Maitiú Mac Cárthaigh

In this work I am recreating a memory of being inside a septic tank as a child. Within the tank, runoff is purified and stillborn bandhs (piglets) are broken down by microbes. The tank's exterior is lined with pig leather as it falls away from it's original circular form. As light leaves the screens it reflects off each membrane, slowly dissolving. It is a space where everything is homogenized. The tank acts as the end point for all productivity.

My current research practice looks at the mechanisms of group assimilation, self-annihilation, and ascension within isolated queer and Irish communities. With focus on Irish neo-liberal economics, white/queer guilt, the definitions of “traditional” versus “productive”, historical depictions of the Irish landscape and how these histories are mirrored in queer politics.