10 Jul 2021 – 23 Dec 2022
Oona Doherty, Hard to Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer, 2017 © the artist. Courtesy the artist and the photographer. Photo: Laurent Philippe
Oona Doherty, Hard to Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer, 2017 © the artist. Courtesy the artist and the photographer. Photo: Laurent Philippe
At the core of Oona Doherty’s practice is a profound belief in dance as a catalyst for social change. A dance artist from Belfast, she created Hope Hunt & The Ascension into Lazarus (2015-2021) after learning that Northern Ireland had the highest rate of young male suicides in Europe. Her movement is based on acute observation; she is alert to every nuance of physical language and is ‘motivated to create rough and pure dance.’ Doherty’s projects begin with drawings, kaleidoscopic collages, diagrams and poems and her performance works include film, sound and spoken word. And, as she says, ‘good craic, struggle, heart and thumping beats.’
Oona Doherty (born 1986, London) lives and works in Belfast. Doherty studied at the London Contemporary Dance School; University of Ulster; and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London.
Oona Doherty, Hope Hunt & The Ascension into Lazarus, 2015-ongoing. Centre Pompidou, 2019 © the artist. Courtesy the artist and the photographer. Photo: Florian Thévenard
I want to create a dance theatre work that abstracts the broken memories of my youth of Northern Ireland into a neon bright prayer.
– Oona Doherty
Oona Doherty, Hard to Be Soft - A Belfast Prayer, 2017 © the artist. Courtesy the artist and the photographer. Photo: Luca Truffarelli
Oona Doherty, Hard to Be Soft - A Belfast Prayer, 2017 © the artist. Courtesy the artist and the photographer. Photo: Luca Truffarelli