Curated by Brendan Mac Evilly
An annual arts journal and production house, Holy Show presents Irish life through the eyes of writers and artists. Here, we’ve assembled a kaleidoscopic retrospective of the first six issues of Holy Show, celebrating the magazine’s short but explosive impact on Irish cultural life. Scattered across four floors, the exhibition features work from almost two dozen artists working in sculpture, photography, illustration, film, video games, and, of course, text.
Holy Show seeks out writers who are nosey enough to talk over the wall to their neighbouring artists working in other artforms. And while the subjects that writers tackle in Holy Show are often deadly serious – the housing crisis, a united Ireland, and queer liberation to name just a few – the journal invites writers to approach these topics with as much humour, colour, and joy as they wish to bring. In fact, Holy Show’s gaudy, gammy, full-colour aesthetic demands it.
Brendan Mac Evilly is director and co-editor of Holy Show. He is the author of At Swim: A Book About the Sea, and his debut novel, Deep Burn, is forthcoming in 2025. His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Channel, the Honest Ulsterman, the Guardian, the Irish Times, and Sunday Times. He is the 2024/25 Emerging Curator in Development at Kilkenny Arts Office. www.holyshow.ie
FEATURED ARTISTS
Sara Baume
Claire Brankin
Jenny Browne
Greg Byrne
Sam Coll
Array Collective
Jane Clarke
Hannah-Clare De Gordun
Susannah Dickey
Rob Doyle
Laura Fitzgerald
Nicole Flattery
Dónal Fullam
Seán Hewitt
Caelainn Hogan
Han Hogan
Roisin Kiberd
Hugh Mulhern
Damien O’Connell
Katie Oliver
Jess Raymon
Eoin Rogers
David Stephenson
