Louise Manifold

"I would like to use the commission to support two projects' studio work, and have new work ready to go at a later time. Like many artists now, I am challenged by these extraordinary circumstances we are facing. I am caught up trying to carry out my day, often in an effort to normalise the current reality. Isolation is not so strange to me. I live alone in a small cottage just on the edge of Connemara, Co Galway. For nearly four years now, I have had a studio in Galway City where I commute and work quite late into the evenings each day. I have, for the last number of years, kept my work and domestic life quite separate. I was convinced that it was really for best practice. Now that I am being confined to working from my home, I am beginning to understand why I have avoided being at home, most notably because it is not actually my home. I will use this opportunity to return to some of my sewing/needlework. Where I embroider into objects that charge the potency of materials so that it becomes some sort of domestic alchemy. I have been thinking a lot about its effects as both humorous, weird, and anecdotal and would hope to make a small visual and text project to make a small e-publication, which is comprised of visual, and textual work.

I hope to create some work that is made available online through The Dock website, that people could download and keep. My feeling right now is that people do crave good content: a well-created podcast, a beautiful e-book, or curious video piece can be a welcome change to the social media fatigue that is setting into society right now."

The Dock team was looking forward to working with a number of visual artists this year. As a result of the Covid 19 restrictions, there was a break in our gallery programme. This meant that the visual artists we were to work with were now without the opportunity to exhibit. The team here think long and hard about what and who we programme in the galleries, so decided to invite the artists who are part of the 2020 programme to submit an idea and approach to developing their work during this Covid-19 lockdown. The Dock framed this as a small commission, to offer the artists encouragement to keep making work and to continue their connection with us and with you the audience.

The commissioned work was mediated via our social media platforms and here on our website.