Liliquoi Blue: God Made Me A boy

13 May 2010 - 15 May 2010, 01:00PM - 05:45PM

In Spring 2010, CityArts recolated to its new permanent home on 15 Bachelor's Walk in Dublin's city centre. To mark this Manchester artist Qasim Riza Shaheen, was commissioned by CityArts and curator Liz Burns, to research and develop a new body of work that would respond to the local area and context .Based in Dublin for six months in 2009, Qasim Riza Shaheen worked with some members of the transgendered Filipino community, developing the project Liliquoi Blue: God made me a boy. The completed work consists of three video adaptations entitled Father I have sinned I, II and III, and an accompanying publication, which explore ideas around beautification, gender, personal icons and childhood memories.

Liliquoi Blue: God Made Me a boy is a response to the cultural changes that have taken place around City Art's new home in Dublin's north city centre. Over the last ten years an abundance of new immigrant businesses have clustered around Capel Street, Mary Street and Parnell Street areas. These businesses consisting mainly of hairdressers, beauty parlours, restaurants, and karaoke bars, are run by and cater primarily for the new immigrant communities such as the Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Nigerian, and Polish populations in Dublin. There is an estimated 12,000 Filipinos working in the health care professions in Ireland making them the largest category of non-European Union worker in the Republic of Ireland. The 'Christopher David' hair salon on Capel Street caters primarily for the Filipino community in Dublin. In addition to being a place of business, this hair salon also acts as an informal social space for the transgendered as well as the wider Filipino community. Regular posters adorn the hairdresser's walls advertising upcoming social events and fundraisers including the ever popular transgendered beauty pageants such as Alternative Miss Philippines, and the more recent Queen of all Seasons. Yet by and large this community is relatively invisible within Irish society, even within the wider gay community in Dublin, operating as a sub culture in itself.

The work of Qasim Riza Shaheen is particularly resonant, in terms of his ongoing research into postures of beautification, the fashioned body, masquerade and gender explored within his live art practice as well as his video, photographic and installation work. Central to the artist's work is an ongoing exploration of the tensions and meanings of his own identity in terms of gender, race, nationality and sexuality. Working in his deeply process orientated manner, this six month period in Dublin allowed the artist the time and space to develop his research and aesthetic within a Dublin context, build connections and collaborate with various contestants of a Filipino beauty pageant.

Recognising the challenges of representing any community or perceived exotic 'other', Shaheen invented the character of Liliquoi Blue, whom we witness in the three video adaptations, Father I have sinned, I, II and III, in various guises and ages, visually mediating the personal narratives recounted by the Filipino participants in the videos' voice overs. The narratives which consist of memories, fantasies, Filipino fairytales and lullabies, recorded by the artist over the course of his residency in Dublin, tell very personal stories of longing and transformation. To accompany this exhibition is a limited edition publication available for purchase through CityArts.

Artists Biography:

Qasim Riza Shaheen's work has been programmed widely including at The National Review of Live Art, Glasgow; Liverpool Biennial; Port City & Breathing Space at Arnolfini, Bristol; Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; British Dance Edition, Liverpool; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Cork International Film Festival; Alhamra National Gallery and Rohtas Gallery, Lahore where he taught and completed an artist residency with the National College of Arts; and International British Council showcases of Live Art.

He was Artist in Residence with CityArts in association with the Fire Station Artists' Studios, Dublin 2009. He continues being Associate Artist at the Greenroom in Manchester since 2004 and is the founder/artistic director of Anokha Laadla, a live art company based in the UK. Upcoming works include a Queer Up North International Festival Commission 2010, Nine Acts of Reciprocity at Gallery Oldham, Greater Manchester and Queer Courtesan at Brighton International Festival 2010.

www.qasimrizashaheen.com

Curators Biography:

Liz's Burns's practice revolves around site and context specific art projects of a socially engaged nature. In her current role in the Fire Station Artists' Studios in Dublin, recent projects include 'Two Monuments' (2009) with Artur Żmijewski. She is currently working on a Think Tank programme with Danish curators Tone Olaf Nielsen and Frederikke Hansen. Liz completed her MA in Visual Arts Practices with IADT 2008/9. Other independent curatorial projects include Systems Failure with artist Anna Macleod (2010).

Liliquoi Blue: God Made Me a boy project has been made possible with the support of the Arts Council's Once-off Project Award 2009, Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism and the Community Foundation.

Venue

City Arts, 15 Bachelors Walk, Dublin 1

Location Map