Stiofan O'Ceallaigh

Stiofan O’Ceallaigh is a multimedia artist and curator born in Ireland. O’Ceallaigh’s work is a personal journey which seeks to emancipate those who know it by promoting discourse around areas such as: HIV, censorship, mental health, biography, (be)longing, (in)visibility, (im)possibilities and internalised shame / stigma > pride. In 2016 he established the Queer art project called Balaclava.Q, a not-for-profit which strategically functions to connect, promote and create platforms for LGBTQ+ artists globally through devising and producing curatorial projects.

‘HOMOPERSPECTIVES’ is a film/collage/animation work in which the artist explores, employs and adapts male photography from the 1940s onwards as a tool to convey personal narratives. During the recent covid waves - to current - the artist kept a daily visual diary in the form of digital collages or GIFs. ‘HOMOPERSPECTIVES’ contains selected extracts from said visual diary. Each individual GIF reflects themes such as mental health, the virus, love, sex (be)longing, (in)visibility, (im)possibilities and the day-to-day.


The male figures in this piece are extracted from pre-1950s photography, vintage gay magazines (1970-2000) and the works of Bob Mizer and Tom of Finland to name a few. Through this process of reappropriation the function of the male figure(s) changes; from the erotic(-objective) to a more emotive context; - a deeper understanding. The figures appear in new, digital, virtual landscapes I like to call: The Cathartic Qtopia.


Credits:


Visuals by Stiofan O’Ceallaigh (UK)

Music by Vortex Razor (Taiwan)


Exhibition History:


‘HOMOPERSPECTIVES’ was premiered in 2021 at the exhibition ‘Queer Photography: A Non-Definitive Survey’ at the Ledward Centre, Brighton (UK) and has since been screened at ‘Continuum: Traces in the Hands of Time’’ at Jacob’s University, Bremen (Germany, 2021), ‘Art Out! Queering The Pandemic’ at The LGBTQ Resource Center, Gulfport Library, Florida (USA, 2022), ‘The Queer Archive Festival’ at Romantso Gallery, Athens, (Greece, 2022), ‘X’ at Passage 20, Zandvoort (The Netherlands, 2022), ‘Making A Mark’ at Clifford Chance, London (UK, 2022), ‘The Queer Exhibition 2022’ as part of the Pink Screens Film Festival at Cinema Nova Galleries, Brussels (Belgium, 2022), ‘Acta Non Verba’ part of the Merlinka Queer Film Festival, Belgrade (Serbia), ‘Tu Eres El Universo (In Ecstatic Motion)’ at Art Gallery Studios, Juarez (Mexico, 2023), ‘Chosen Families’ at Squish, Rotterdam (The Netherlands, 2023), ‘The Gilbert Baker Film Festival, various locations (USA, 2023), ‘Pride Art Berlin’ at The Knast Berlin (Germany, 2023), ‘Echoes of Existence’ at Constructor University. Bremen (Germany, 2024), ‘Hablame Sucio - Videoteca 3’ at El Local Santurce, San Juan (Puerto Rico, 2025), ‘Escandalo!’ at El Armadillo, CDMX, (Mexico, 2026) and at the solo exhibition ‘From Pride to Shame and Back Again’ at Partnership House, Newcastle (UK, 2022).