Kate Glennon
I am a Dublin-based visual artist. I have found photography to be the most effective way for me to explore the themes and connect with subjects which interest me. Growing up at a time of great change in human interaction, I am drawn to the emotional impact of this change and how it affects human behaviour and our relationships with one another. My work focuses on identity, communication, technology and place. Recently I have been exploring how space contributes to personal identity, in response to the housing and emigration crisis in Ireland.
Though my work often changes between personal and non-personal documentary projects, one continuum in my practice is its aim to be evocative; to make the viewer contemplate their emotional response to the ideas represented. In a society where we create and choose what determines our online public identities, I aim to explore our private identities.
Room For None
Room for None presents the bedrooms of Irish people in their twenties, as they navigate the beginning of their adult lives whilst still living in their family home due to unaffordable rent and property prices. As they move into adulthood having ownership over just one space can be limiting, and how they use their space as a means of living and expression is highlighted in the images and testimonies.
This is by far not the worst result of the housing crisis, as many of the contributors mentioned how lucky they were to have a safe home in a country with a lack of housing. Even so, this issue is one of the lesser discussed impacts that will lead to wider ramifications in our society. Adult lives are being stunted and put on hold, with many feeling the only option to take full autonomy in their lives is to emigrate.