Dr. Helen Sharp

Raised on the remote Scottish island of Vatersay in the Outer Hebrides, Dr. Helen Sharp brings a deeply rooted sense of place to a multidisciplinary practice spanning sculpture, time-based art, and socially engaged work. After leaving the islands, Sharp studied at Edinburgh College of Art and then Dartington College of Arts, laying the foundation for an expansive career in contemporary art. Exhibiting internationally and working as a lecturer, Sharp went on to complete a PhD at the University of Ulster.

Helen's practice is grounded in a deep engagement with land, place, animals and the relationships that unfold within them. From the knackerman to the vet, the agri department assessor to the soil analyst. Managing her equine farm in County Fermanagh helps her explore how the landscape and its flora, fauna, and people are influenced by ecological, cultural, and psychological factors. She is currently particularly interested in the parallels between regenerative agriculture and psychotherapy: how healing, renewal, and repair are made possible. 

There’s also a fascination with rural youth culture and the public manifestations of that. Through sculpture, time-based media, writing and socially engaged methods, Helen seeks to make visible the often-unspoken emotional and ethical dimensions of rural life. She is drawn to working landscapes — spaces where political, personal, and environmental histories intersect — and to the quiet gestures of repair found in farming, animal stewardship, and land care.

Alongside her art career, Sharp writes for The Farmers’ Journal, The Irish Field and the Farmers’ Voice in The Impartial Reporter, three of the island of Ireland’s oldest and widest-read agricultural newspapers, 

Barry Connolly is an organic market gardener and farmer in Fermanagh. With over eight years’ experience farming in Ireland and France, he previously ran Pure Rare Organics near Belfast and completed an MSc in Organic Farming in 2024. While he works part-time as an orthodontist, his true passion is organic agriculture.

His family farm, established in 1920, spans 80 acres. Barry’s father, originally a suckler cattle farmer, now buys and finishes around 60 weanlings annually. Barry has set aside five acres to establish a fruit and nut orchard, forest garden, syntropic permaculture orchard, market garden, and a tree nursery. He aims to create a diverse, self-sufficient farm that moves beyond traditional cattle farming. Committed to sustainability, they stopped using synthetic fertiliser, reseeded 25% of pasture with multispecies mixes, make compost from farm waste, planted a willow coppice, and restored a pond and hedgerows to enhance biodiversity.

The land has historical significance, featuring a 500-metre stretch of the old Ulster Canal, a preserved stone bridge, an ancient rath, and nearby Neolithic sites. It also borders the River Finn and Upper Lough Erne. Barry’s farm blends tradition and innovation, focusing on regenerative, diverse, and ecologically sound agriculture. His vision is to showcase Ireland’s potential for sustainable food production while protecting the environment and cultural heritage.

The Farm Walks project (est. 2023) was co-created by Leitrim County Council Arts Office and The Dock, in partnership with The Leitrim Sustainable Agriculture Group and the Ulster Wildlife Farmers’ Group in Fermanagh, funded through the Creative Ireland Shared Island Programme. Through the project, the partners aim to build cross-border cooperation, to explore the common ground between artists and farmers, and to highlight shared farming and environmental interests.