Tulca shows put immigrant experience in the spotlight

Date Published: {J}

The influx of immigrants during Ireland’s boom years opened a new chapter in Ireland’s history – as a country that traditionally exported its young people, immigration wasn’t a phenomenon we were familiar with.

But during the Celtic Tiger years, that changed and the experiences of Ireland’s immigrant community – North and South – are explored in a video Progress II, which will be shown as part of this year’s Tulca Festival of Visual Arts which opens in the city on Saturday.

The theme of the festival is Living on the Edge: People, Places and Possibility and this work, a collaboration between Susanne Bosch and Anthony Haughey, fits in perfectly.

Susanne, who was born in Germany and now lives in Belfast, and English-born Anthony, whose parents emigrated from Northern Ireland during the Troubles, have been collaborating since 2006. That was the year Susanne moved to Northern Ireland to work as a researcher in the University of Ulster’s INTERFACE Centre for Research, examining the role of contemporary arts in a society in transition.

Before coming to Belfast, Susanne, who trained in Nuremburg’s Academy of Fine Arts, had lived in Istanbul as part of an artist’s residency. That opened up a new chapter in her life.

Turks form the largest ethnic minority in Germany, and Susanne’s time in the Turkish capital led her to examine emigration and identity as these related to the two countries.

“Why do people go to the place I come from, to seek their fortune, with the idea of achieving better than they have at home?

“I was curious to think about that place being the place of dreams.”

After Istanbul she continued her studies in Germany, learning about conflict in civil society.

“I learned I was interested in the role of the artist as a bridge maker and I had an interest in conflict and contested spaces.”

After moving to Belfast, where she was now the ‘immigrant’ Susanne met Dublin-based Anthony, and discovered they both had an interest in the issue of identity and ‘otherness’.

In 2006 the issue of migration in Northern Ireland was a really young topic, she continues. But while there was a lot in the news about immigrants, it was rare to hear people’s own voices.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.