Curios About: Phoenix Park Palare by Conor O’Grady

Phoenix Park Palare (Polari) 2014
By Conor O’ Grady
Photography/installation/intervention, 24 inches x 34 inches

1. This work is  . . . a series of three grainy, gritty images of a park bench at Dublin’s Phoenix Park, taken over a six-year period, which document a certain type of alienation. The first image’s text reads “CLEAR GAYS OUT OF OUR PARK TAKE CAR NUMBERS FOR GARDA”. By 2014, this has mutated into “TAKE NOTE ON GARDA CCTV CAR NO TAKEN FOR PRESS SO BE AWARE”.

2. I made this work because . . . the recent success of the same-sex-marriage referendum will have an overwhelmingly positive effect on the lives of homosexual people in Ireland. A space of physical and emotional freedom has been created which cannot be undone. However, for those men and women who will remain marginalised within society, for whatever reason, the outcome of the referendum will have little effect at all.

3. In terms of art history, this work . . . references several aspects of street art, interventionist practices and the performative action.

4. You can see my work … on my blogspots at In This Nation and Conor O’Grady Fine Art.

Curios [sic] About is a series featuring works by Dublin artists, curated for us by our friends at the Square in the Circle blog, and hosted there as well as here.

Each artist is asked to submit an image of one work and answer a set of questions about it. We’d love it if you’d submit something you’ve made.