Ormond art studio application

Letter of Interest

To all the members of Ormond Art Studios, 

I’m applying to Ormond Art Studios as I return to Dublin after spending the last three years on the move - part-time in the city, part-time walking around the country. On Saturday the 28th of July 2019 my partner and I became the first people to walk every National Waymarked Trail in Ireland. Throughout this time I documented and photographed the process, wrote about the experience, and I am now looking to develop this work for my ongoing research masters at IADT (following my BA in Photography), which is examining differing representations of Ireland, walking as an art form, and how these two areas overlap and interact.  

I’m applying to Ormond Art Studios because I would love to be in a creative environment where I can discuss with other artists their creative practice, be inspired by how others work, and build a creative workflow for myself within a dedicated space. In the past I have organised group exhibitions, helped install and invigilate festival shows, and volunteered with artist-focused foundations. I’m applying to Ormond Art Studios because it’s artist-led, a not-for-profit collective that will give me the chance to learn and work in the running and organising of an artist space. As artists’ presences become online, as more creatives promote and share their processes digitally, I believe that the importance of having a physical space and place to share and discuss your work is vital. 

I look forward to hearing from you, 

Ellie

+353 85 1147 867 // allezberry@gmail.com // @allezberry

Sample of work

The Red Girls

This land felt cold, and never ending. It was worked for a purpose, and this was built just for passing. It was fen and fey and wild. It was wet. 

I heard the story of the red girls the second evening of the walk; they lived out here in the bog. We would pass their stretch of land soon, and we'd know we were there when the canal rose up above the wetlands,  showing the dismal greys and rich deep browns of the ground swallowing the horizons.
They had all lived together, these red girls, out in this empty place. They were called so for their burning bright hair. I was told they used to do their washing in the waterway, or just walk here, waiting for passers. The made others' journeys pass quicker, with wit and charm and chat as they wandered the banks. 

As we walked these long, open sections in a constant rain I thought of them, in such a monotonous and lonely place. My clothes were slowly being soaked through, drops rolling down the sides of my hood, falling off the ends of my sleeves. Yet after a while my lips dried out. The air tasted of damp acid. I thought of the red girls, and I daydreamed of leaving this banal place, of colour, of dance, of dried lips, and then of lipstick. I imagined colouring in this unchanged landscape, mixing its textures and masking them with others. 

Fractured Landscapes

A work in progress considering the imagined geographies people build within themselves and then project onto places, expecting a landscape to provide a sense of connection and belonging.

The Connection Project

A recent fun project that involved people submitting words to me via my website, and me then photographing those words as I found them.
(full piece)