This exhibition has been developed over the past two years and takes on the form of a series of new sculptural works using clay and other materials alongside works in print and video. Gallery 1 is transformed into a hybrid space evoking the home, the archive and the exhibition as sites for reflection and understanding of the self. Through these spaces a number of familiar objects are discernible formed through paper, clay, mirror, wood and other found materials.

This exhibition is a key part of an ambitious multi-platform project titled Family Lines Project developed through Rekab’s ongoing explorations of the body, the family and the nation, hinged through their own personal and familial experiences. Family Lines Project examines the present day legacies of migration within Black and Mixed-Race culture in Ireland. It questions how one comes to belong, to one’s own body, to one’s family or nation state, and crucially how one is excluded, exploring both trauma and strategies for survival. For Rekab the integrity of this work is developed through a combination of personal reflection and collaborative practice, this time working with the Éireann and I, an archive of Black life for Black migrants in Ireland, alongside artists Salma Ahmad Caller, Holly Graham and Larry Achiampong, amongst others.

The Family Lines Project is an unprecedented and ambitious durational programme over 12 months which mobilizes: 1) Public billboards sites focusing on what Black-Irish space looks like in Cork, Dublin and London; 2) Monthly online screening programme that platforms the voices of other artists of colour bringing work from the African diaspora not previously seen by audiences in Ireland, in person screenings and artists’ talks including the work of Martina Attille, Black Audio Film Collective, Ufuomo Essi, Zinzi Minott, Onyeka Igwe, Salma Ahmed Caller, Holly Graham, Jenifer Martin, and Larry Achiampong; 3) participatory workshops led by Éireann & I on Race, Place, and Belonging for Black and Mixed-Race audiences; alongside 4) Rekab’s first major institutional solo exhibition in Gallery 1 and Éireann & I’s firstmajour institutional presentation of their archivein Gallery 2 at the Douglas Hyde. Each stage of the project considers the importance of both platforming voices of colour and making specific spaces for self-representation and gathering, and each stage informs the next stage of the project echoing the layers of meaning and experience of the participants.

Art plays a crucial role in asking questions around identity and belonging, and shaping our ideas of a New Ireland and a new Europe for future generations.  The considered engagement, ambition and thematic scope of Family Lines Project confirms Alice Rekab as one of the most interesting artists of the present. Their practice is hugely ambitious, dynamic and timely as it moves beyond existent tropes, mobilizing spaces across cities, virtual spaces, participatory workshops, alongside exhibition projects. It brings to the fore discussions on race, place and belonging at a time where these conversations are urgent, particularly in an Irish context.

Alice Rekab’s practice is concerned with expressions and iterations of complex cultural and personal narratives. Alice Rekab takes their own mixed-race Irish identity as a starting point from which to explore experiences of race, place and belonging. Over the last ten years Rekab’s practice has centred around collaboration and interdisciplinary work from which they produce film, performance, image and sculpture, creating new intersectional narratives and objects for exhibition. Recent Projects include Ricochet #14, Museum VILLA STUCK , Munich (2023); FAMILY LINES Project, Douglas Hyde Gallery(2022); Mountain Language, Galway Arts Centre(2022) Concealed in the half-light, Catalyst Arts Centre, Belfast (2021), Truth, Flags, Identity, Temple Bar Gallery+Studios // Culture Night Dublin (2020) The Nomoli/Father talk, VERY Project Space, Berlin (2019) and The Open Object, Stanley Picker Gallery, London (2018).

Rekab completed a PhD in Art at Kingston School of Art London in 2018 and an MA at Goldsmiths College London in 2010. Their work is in the collections of Trinity College Dublin, The Cathal Ryan Trust, The Irish Museum of Modern Art and The Arts Council of Ireland.
Rekab is a recipient of the Visual Arts Project Award 2021 and the Visual Arts Bursary Award 2020.

Alice Rekab identifies as non-binary.

For further information see: https://www.alicerekab.com/

Exhibition Handout | Family Lines, The Douglas Hyde, June 2022. 

Artist’s Introduction | Alice Rekab: Family Lines. The Douglas Hyde, May 2022.

Video Interview | An Artistic Eye: Alice Rekab, The Douglas Hyde Gallery, June 2021. 

The exhibition was commissioned by The Douglas Hyde and is supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon through a Project Award.

Image courtesy of Alice Rekab.