Glory on the artist: Shia Conlon, Helsinki
Writer and artist whose work has been centered around marginalized voices and growing up in the landscape of working-class Catholic Ireland. His current research is focused on non-linear time and how to use the power of archives, language, and memory as tools for queer representation. His work is rooted in collaboration and would not exist without the vulnerability and openness of the queer and trans community. (Conlon, 2022)
https://www.shiaconlon.com/
I recently stumbled upon Shia Conlon's work (through Almanac Press). I'm always excited by trans writers discussing time/death and both are themes in Conlon's writing. I won't say more now because I'm yet to read all of his available work.
Conlon's photography serves as a balm to the hypervigilance that can be inherent to trans people; his portraits let the audience in to a place very much inside time. Even with his figures directed towards the lens, the feeling of being privy to a secret intimacy is striking. I feel that the subjects are safe in Conlon's world they are welcoming the audience- with authority.
(Image from Against Domestication, Conlon's 2017-2022 project examining power structures impressed on the body)
