Jacqueline Wylie News From Belfast

News & Projects

Here are some of my current and future projects that you might find of interest.

#Interface at neo:gallery23, Bolton

Forthcoming exhibition: #Interface, neo:gallery23, The Market Place, Bolton BL1 2AL 31 March-20 May 2018

I’m thrilled to be showing some of my new constructed photographs as part of #Interface. This series builds on conclusions from my PhD thesis about artists’ identity and behaviour on social media. I'm travelling from Belfast for the preview, on 31 March from 2-4pm, so it would be great to see you there. The exhibition is organised and curated by Lucie Wilson, Sandra Bouguerch and Sume Leyden, who have invited a diverse group of 23 regional, national and international artists to work creatively to explore the impact of technology on our daily physical and social environment and on visual culture in general. A series of artist's talks will be staged throughout the duration of the exhibition and a catalogue containing images, artists’ statements and critical writing will be available for sale.

Detail of Risk Aversion: Rubberboy 2, October 2017 by Jacqueline Wylie. Fine Art Giclée Print A0 (46.8" x 33.1") on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Satin 310gsm

PhD Finished! In December 2017 I completed a PhD at Ulster University, studying visual artists’ use of social media and the consequent challenges to materiality, identity, data protection and ethics. My thesis is titled:

A new canvas? A study of social media and networking activity by arts professionals in the United Kingdom and Ireland 2004-2014: examining the post internet paradigm shift that has occurred in their behaviours, workflows and artefacts, and discussing the consequences for materiality, identity and ethics in visual art.

It's available from the British Library and I’m in the process of checking all the necessary copyright permissions so it can be downloaded on line.

Social media and the total datafication of our lives are very topical so I'm following recent developments with interest. I particularly enjoyed Arwa Mahdawi’s recent article in The Guardian on 20 March, “Facebook: is it time we all deleted our accounts?

New home! Creative Exchange Artist Studios, Unit 4B 310 Newtonards Road, Belfast, photograph by Heather Doran Wilson

New studio 2017 was a busy year for me professionally, I received two very generous awards to support my arts activity in 2017/18: an iDA Award (Arts & Disability Forum, Belfast) and a SIAP General Award (Arts Council Northern Ireland Lottery Funding). I also relocated my studio from Manchester to East Belfast. I was sad to finally leave Rogue Studios in Manchester after over fifteen happy, productive years there. I wish everyone at Rogue Artists’ Studios well in their new home in the former Varna Street Primary School. In October I was very excited to find a new permanent studio at Creative Exchange Artist Studios in East Belfast. It has heating, such luxury! This a fresh start for me in a vibrant part of the city and I am enjoying getting to know the area and the wider arts ecology in Ireland. In May I will be attending Visual Arts Ireland’s Get Together at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, so if you are there do say hello.

New Website As part of this transition I now have this new website, which will grow organically over the coming months as I add examples of new and earlier work. I am continuing to use wool, photography, text, and social media to draw and paint with, to question the ways value is placed on creativity and how preconceptions about gender, age and disability continue to have a profound affect on the critical reception given to an artist and her work.To support my career as a professional I offer high level skills and experience in project management, fund raising, art history, drawing, painting, photography, and textiles, and am currently available for commissions, workshops, artists’ talks, coaching, post doctoral research and consultancy roles.

Murlough Bay 2, Northern Ireland Feb 2018 by Jacqueline Wylie, landscape photograph, work for sale, sizes vary.

Have a Happy Spring