Biography



Education:

1982-82        “Ecole des Arts et Metiers”, Luxembourg

1984-87        “Fachschule für Keramikgestaltung”, Höhr-Grenzhausen

1990-91        Cardiff Institute of Higher Education, MA Ceramics Course

2008-13        Huston School of Film and Digital Media, National University of Ireland, Galway, PhD programme


Qualifications include:

1984             “C.A.P. Potier” (Apprentice examination in Pottery)

1987             “Staatlich geprüfte Keramikgestalterin” (BA Ceramic Design equivalent)

1991             MA Ceramics

2013             PhD Film, practice-based


PhD thesis:

‘The Legacy (Das Vermächtnis): the role of cultural production in the reprocessing of collective experiences that are equivalent to trauma’

Sponsorship: Galway Film Studies Fellowship.


Training includes:

1992             ‘Picture This’ training course in 16 mm film-making, Bristol

2004             Masterclass in Animation with Juri Norstein, Jerzy Kucia , Ruth Lingford and Ulla-Carin Grafstroem, Vilnius, Lithuania

2005-08       Diploma in Intentional Healing with Ira Greenberg


Professional Experience includes:

Since            1991 own studio as ceramic artist and independent film-maker

Since            1994 living and working in Ireland

Since            1996 director of Crinklefilms studios, Cork


Exhibitions include:

1993/96       Ceramics Contemporaries, V & A., London, UK

1997            Irish Contemporary Ceramics, Dublin, Sligo, Limerick, Belfast

1997            Contemporary Ceramics, Prize Winners Exhibition, London, UK

2000            Irish Contemporary Ceramics, Dumfries, Sligo, Limerick, Belfast

2001            Solo-show at Gallerie Metzger, Johannesberg, Germany

2002            Mensen, keramische skulpturen, Tegelen, Holland

2006/07       Irish Contemporary Ceramics, Limerick, Clonmel, Dublin, Kilkenny

2014            Dublin Biennal, Ireland

2018            Visions - The Garden of Liquid Identities, International Art Show of photography, painting, video art, installation and performance art, Venice


Prizes include:

1996            Craft Potters Association Prize


Productions include:

1996            THE IMPERIAL MESSAGE, 16 mm, 6.5 min photo and puppet animation

1998            SEAMAI THE SEAL, 16 mm, 3.5 min, cut-out/clay animation, educational film for Cork County and Cork City Council.

2000            SEAMAI 2, Composting is Cool, 16 mm, 3.5 min, cut-out/clay animation, educational film for Cork County and Cork City Council.

2003            AUNT BRIDGET, 35 mm, 6 min, puppet/cell animation with Vlad Bairamgulov

2004            SEAMAI 3, Taking Care of Hazardous Waste, 16 mm, 3.5 min, cut-out/clay animation, educational film for Cork County and Cork City Council.

2006            ..JOY.. 16 mm, 5 min experimental silent film as part of a cine-concert

2012            THE LEGACY, 42 min experimental film as part of a live music event with light projections

2014            THERE ARE NO OTHER ‘OTHERS’: TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE ETHICS, 25 min, audio-visual reflection using excerpts of THE LEGACY to quotations from Rosi Braidotti (2006, 2013)


Production awards include:

1996            Production award under the Frameworks scheme by the Irish Film Board,  RTE, The Irish Arts Council and the Northern Ireland Film Council for THE IMPERIAL MESSAGE

2003            Production award under the Frameworks scheme by the Irish Film Board,  RTE and the Irish Arts Council fro AUNT BRIDGET

2006            Project award by the Irish Arts Council for ..JOY..


Screenings include:

1994/95/96/03/06  Cork International Film Festival

1994/97/99    Galway Film Fleadh

1997/99         “Krok” International Animation Festival, Ukraine

1998/00         Trickfilm-Festival, Stuttgart

1998               Irish Film Festival, Montreal, Canada

1998               International Film Festival Halifax, Canada

2004               Irish Film Festival, Chicago

2004               International Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania

2013               Irish Arts Centre New York

2014               Dublin Biennial, Ireland

2018               Visions - The Garden of Liquid Identities, International Art Show of photography, painting, video art, installation and performance art, Venice


Teaching Experience include:

1992-99       Visiting Lecturer at University of Wales, Cardiff;  Crawford College of Art, Cork; School of Art and Design, Limerick

1995            Tutor on the Masterclass in Animation, Cork Film Festival

1996            Tutor in Ceramics, 1st year subsidiary, Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork

2000            Tutor on the Masterclass in Animation, Filmakademie Badenwürthenberg, Trickfilm-Festival, Stuttgart

1996-03       Tutor in Ceramics, H. Dip. Course, Crawford College of Art, Cork

1996-13       Course Director and tutor in Ceramics, Sculpture and Film-making at CSN, Cork

2001-13       Course Director of the Higher Professional Arts Diploma, CSN, Cork

2015            Visiting lecturer at the ‘Film in Focus’ Seminar, UCC, Cork

2015            Visiting lecturer to the MA Course, CCEA (Cork Centre for Architectural Education), CIT/ UCC (Cork Institute of Technology/University College Cork), Cork

2017            Tutor part-time, UCC adult continuing education

2018            Visiting lecturer Second Year, CCEA, CIT/ UCC, Cork

CurrentlyTutor in sculpture and ceramics at CSN, Cork


Honorary positions include:

2000            Member of the International Jury, Trickfilmfestival, Stuttgart, Germany

2001            Member of the International Jury, Goldfish Animation Festival, Moscow, Russia

2011            Mumbai International Film Festival, India

Since 2013 Honorary member of the Film-maker’s Advisory Board, tiNai Ecofilm Festival, Goa, India


Academic Presentations include:

2010        ‘The confrontation of dissociation as an effect of trauma in the film ‘Germany Pale Mother’ by Helma Sanders Brahms’, Study seminar, NUIGalway

2011        ‘Film versus trauma’, Mumbai International Film Festival, India

2013        ‘Restoring the lost ‘regard’: the role of archive footage in reinstating victim visibility’, Genocide Studies Workshop: Sound, Image, Archive. Newcastle University

2014        ‘Retrieving Interrelatedness: the effect of trauma on the individual, social and collective context and its potential reversal’, TP4 Interdisciplinary Conference Trauma, Theory and Practice,

                Prague, Czech Republic

2014       ‘A vulture has flown out...: the Peasant War in its opposition to the Graeco-Roman heritage of imperialist ideology’, Borderlines XVIII, UCC, Cork.

2014       ‘Paradise lost: Violence as the result of a lack of a sense of interrelatedness, an interdisciplinary perspective’, V5 Interdisciplinary Conference, Lisbon, Portugal

2014       ‘Performance versus trauma: the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ and ‘Butoh’ as a response to trauma-like experiences in the macro-social context’, Consciousness and Cognition, Irish Society for

                Theatre Research Conference, UCC.

2014       ‘Loss of interrelatedness and the ideological foundation of the Holocaust, an interdisciplinary perspective’, British Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference, Trinity College Dublin

2014       ‘Das Vermächtnis: Facing a Legacy of Violence with Empathy’, Empathy 1, Interdisciplinary Conference, Prague, Czech Republic.

2014       ‘Paradise Lost: Violence as the Result of a Lack of a Sense of Interrelatedness, an Interdisciplinary Perspective’, V12 Violence: Probing the Boundaries, Interdisciplinary.net, Lisbon, Portgual.

2016       ‘‘Art Thou Troubled…’: The Therapeutic Effect of Music-Experiencing in the Context of Trauma Reprocessing’ Trauma 6, Interdisciplinary Conference, Budapest, Hungary.

2017       ‘From the haunted archive: restoring victim visibility to counter desubjectification’, BAHS, (British Association for Holocaust Studies) Conference, Sheffield, U.K.

2018       ‘From shame to outsider antagonism to violence: discourses on otherness in Austrian and Prussian literature of the late 18th and early 19th century and their relation to the Holocaust’, BAHS

                Conference, Leeds, U.K.


Academic Publications include:

2015       ‘Das Vermächtnis: Facing a Legacy of Violence with Empathy’, Empathy 1, Interdisciplinary Conference, Prague, Czech Republic.

                This article discusses the collective reprocessing of a violent history through experimental documentary as a form of cultural intervention.

2015       ‘Paradise Lost: Violence as the Result of a Lack of a Sense of Interrelatedness, an Interdisciplinary Perspective’, V12 Violence: Probing the Boundaries, Interdisciplinary.net, Lisbon, Portgual.

                This article explores the causal link between trauma and violence using an interdisciplinary perspective.

2019       ‘Finding the Way Home: an Interdisciplinary Perspective on Trauma and Trauma Resolution Practices’ in Where to From Here? Examining Conflict Related and Relational Interaction Trauma,

                E. McInnes and A. Mason (eds.), Leiden/Boston: Brill /Ropodi.

                This article discusses cultural intervention for potential trauma resolution. Drama productions that use an element of absurdity and ‘Butoh’ Dance are given as examples.