RESIDENCIES & OPPORTUNITIES

On Saturday 17th May, we’ll be hosting a Charity Art Auction in memory of our friend and colleague, Harry Kerr –  a gifted artist, mentor, and generous supporter of emerging photographers.

To honour Harry’s legacy, we launched the Harry Kerr Photography Bursary in May 2024, on the second anniversary of his passing. The bursary supports early career photographers in creating new work and developing their practice — something Harry cared deeply about. Our first recipient, Danielle Macleod from the Isle of Lewis, used the bursary to produce a stunning new body of work, which will be exhibited this June at Grinneabhat, Bragar, Lewis.

We are now raising €20,000 to continue this initiative for the next four years — and we would be truly grateful if you would consider donating a piece of artwork for the fundraising auction. Whether photography, painting, print, sculpture or something else — every contribution will help fund four annual €5,000 bursaries and support the next generation of artists.

Auction Date: Saturday 17th May,  Fort Dunree, Inishowen, Donegal 7-10pm
The evening will include live music, food, and plenty of craic
Deadline for artwork submissions: 10am Tuesday 6th May 2025
Drop-off / delivery details: Works can be delivered to Artlink, Fort Dunree, Linsfort, Buncrana, Co. Donegal, Ireland, F93 C424

If you’re able to donate a piece, or would like more information, please dowdload the form below and send an image of your work to info@artlink.ie Thank you so much for considering — and for helping keep Harry’s generous, creative spirit alive.

Artlink are delighted to announce the recipients of the Artlink Residencies 2025;

Irish Artist in Residence: Martina O’Brien

Norway Artist in Residence: Trond Ansten

International Artist in Residence: Percy Nii Nortey

International Atlantic Exchange Artist in Residence: Michael Pittman

Martina O’Brien research-led practice explores links between people, nature and technology, bound by an interest in perceptions of time and the earth sciences. Her projects are typically developed through conversations and engagement with communities of interest, including community-based organisations, citizen scientists, academics and members of the scientific community. She realises her ideas through various media including moving image, installation and printmaking and mainly presents her work in galleries in the form of exhibitions, at video screening events, and through giving public artist talks.
Over several years her work has examined technologies of meteorological measure from weather recording to climate modelling. Through these explorations, she considers how computational ways of seeing affect our possibilities for being, acting and thinking in the world.
More recently, her work has responded to industrial and scientific practices that are transforming our relationships with the ocean, from the extraction of the seabed through deep sea mining, to research into the effects of climate change on deep-water corals.
Drawing on her time on many marine expeditions in the Atlantic Ocean, in Oslofjord and the Arctic Ocean, she has sought to map, understand, and vision these ecosystems. By exploring ideas of remoteness, technologized vision and unbreachable distance in relation to the seafloor, her work has attempted to reorient extractive imaginaries of ocean ecosystems, and attune to networked oceanic knowledges and communities – and their unfathomable elements – amongst the unfolding of climatological emergency.

martinaobrien.com

Trond Ansten is based in Tromsø, Northern-Norway. He has a background as a woodcarver, biologist and trapper man and is educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art and the University of Telemark. The harvest and processing of organic material from the wild is central to his work, where Ansten explores aspects of our relation to nature and the resource base. He works with sculpture, film and relational projects where material knowledge, cultural rituals and craft techniques are central. Recent projects explore architecture for microorganisms in wooden sculptures, seaweed-brewing and farming, trapping architecture, the potential of slaughter waste from the fisheries and the bar as an artistic site. The audience is invited on a journey through science, history and mysticism.

During his residency Ansten is most interested in getting to know the locals and the nature in the north of Ireland. If you are a scientist, a craftsman, an archeologist or a fisherman, out of passion or profession, or if you are doing some kind of harvest from nature to sustain yourself he will like to meet you. What is there of forgotten knowledge that can open up new potential?

Ansten received the Norwegian Governments working grant in 2018 and his work is exhibited at galleries and art festivals such as North Norwegian Art Centre (Lofoten), Barents Spektakel (NO), CCA gallery (Glasgow), Sami Centre for Contemporary Art (NO), Bergen Kunsthall (NO), Satellite Art Show/Art Basel – Miami, Lofoten International Art Festival (NO), Nordic Art Week-Estonia, The Arctic Arts Festival (NO), Museum Kunst der Westküste (DE), Northern Norway Art Museum, Delai Film-festival (Moscow), Alternative Film Festival (Belgrade), Grace Exhibition Space (NYC) and Tokyo Photographic Art Museum.

www.trondansten.com

Percy Nii Nortey is a multidisciplinary artist born and based in Kumasi, Ghana. His work explores themes of identity, materiality, memory, and labor blurring the lines between installation, performative objects and moving sculptures. Deeply rooted in his personal history and the socio-economic conditions of Ghana, Nortey’s practice seeks to decolonize minds, empower Black communities, and reclaim agency over their narratives.
Community engagement is central to his artistic approach, as he actively involves local people in the creative process. Through projects that repurpose second-hand fabrics— distributing them, collecting them after use, and transforming them into artworks—he highlights the significance of labor and its role in society.
His work has been featured in major cultural events such as the Dekoloniale in Berlin, Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, Chale Wote Art Festival in Accra, and the Museum of Science and Technology in Accra. He has participated in residencies at the Dekoloniale Festival in Germany, Saari Residence in Finland, and perfocraZe International Artist Residency in Ghana.

percyniinortey.com

Michael Jonathon Pittman was born in Newfoundland and Labrador to parents of mixed Indigenous/settler descent. He has a BFA from Memorial University, and a practice led master’s degree from the Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland. He has participated in multiple residencies, including Fogo Island Arts (2010), and was a semi-finalist for the prestigious Sobey Art Award (2013). He has exhibited at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery (2012), the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and the Benetton Foundation’s Great and North exhibition during the 2017 Venice Biennale. In 2021, he participated in the Bonavista Biennale, where his work was featured alongside the most exciting names in contemporary art. He is a prolific creator and is represented in public collections and multiple commercial galleries. Pittman has received numerous grants and awards for his art, which frequently references the physical environment, traditional knowledge and hidden histories of the places to which he is connected.

newfoundartist.com

We are pleased to announce that Danielle Macleod has been awarded the 2024 Harry Kerr Bursary. Danielle is a gifted mask maker and photographer from the Isle of Lewis, whose work is deeply intertwined with the rich cultural heritage of the Hebrides. Her photography, captured on medium format film, is known for its evocative portrayal of traditional Hebridean life, local legends, and the mystical connection between people and their landscapes.

Having spent several years in Glasgow, where she earned a BA Honours degree from the Glasgow School of Art’s Communication Design department, Danielle’s work has continually sought to reconnect her with her island home. Through her lens, the landscapes of Lewis are transformed into otherworldly realms, and its inhabitants become guardians of ancient myths and stories. Her past works, including her solo show Guardians at the Island Darkroom and two person show Na Boireannaich with Alice Macmillan, at An Lanntair, Stornoway, have been celebrated for their ability to evoke a deep sense of place and identity.

Danielle’s winning project for the Harry Kerr Bursary will delve into the traditional healing medicines and practices of the Highlands and Islands. She will create a series of portraits and landscapes, focusing on the plants and materials once used in ancient healing rituals. By crafting wearable sculptures from these natural elements and photographing them within the landscapes from which they originate, Danielle aims to create a visual dialogue that highlights the profound connection between people and their environment.

This project promises to be a compelling exploration of folk medicine, and its enduring legacy in the Highlands and Islands, offering a new perspective on the deep interdependence between the land and its inhabitants.

The Harry Kerr Bursary has been made possible by generous donor contributions. Our goal is to raise €25,000 to fund five bursaries of €5,000 per year for the next five years, providing ongoing support to deserving artists. Together, we can honour Harry and continue his mission of fostering creativity, technical skill and artistic excellence in photography. To donate to the fund click the button which will take you to the Go Fund Me page.