My contribution to this years Student Forum online magazine is titled Archival Tendencies (2021). Through a process of archival research within the Douglas Hyde Gallery’s own archives, I have recovered a body of material from past exhibitions held at the gallery that I have rearranged into a series of new documents. These documents, combining original archival information from four particular shows with my own interjections, attempts to understand the role of the archive in the identity of an institution, and the role of that perceived identity around issues of accessibility. The archive is something that necessarily remains inaccessible, and so by recovering this information and presenting it in such a way, I question the necessity of the archive, and introduce the possibility for the individual’s own experiences, ideas and reactions to be as important to the history and present identity of a place.

Jonathan O’Grady is a visual artist and recent graduate of NCAD currently based between Dublin and Kildare. His work mainly takes the form of photography, film, sculpture and drawing, and is concerned with investigating rigid systems of organising knowledge and attempting to disrupt them in a way that opens up new forms of understanding. Recent exhibitions have included Juncture (2021), a group show at Pallas Projects and Studios, Dublin, Triad (2021), a performance at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and SITE:SIGHT (2020) a duo show with artist Rosie Feerick.

Thanks to the Douglas Hyde Gallery team, in particular Fernando Sánchez-Migallón Cano and Rachel Botha, for their incredible help, support and patience.