Toma McCullim
Cork County Council / Uillinn Artist in Residence 2023
Bender
4 April to 1 May 2023

Taking place from 4 April to 1 May this year, this residency supports artists seeking opportunities to research and develop their practice and to engage with Uillinn, local and diverse communities and the general public. The award includes a studio space for 4 weeks at Uillinn and a stipend of €2,500.

During her residency, Toma will continue her work with Traveller women and says ‘This residency creates a space where Traveller and Settled women meet. It is a temporal home, a space where Buffers and Beoirs whiden. This studio becomes the intersection between cultural worlds. From 1982 till 1984 I lived in a bender, the type of withy tent structure made by Travellers. I
lived at the side of the road as part of Greenham Common Women’s peace movement . I experienced living as outsider, cooking on an open fire and fetching water from a stand pipe. This studio time brings this time to life in order to create a holding place for our imaginations. I will be inviting the West Cork Traveller community to share their memories of living on the land. I will be asking what home means to us.

Here at the crossroads we will look back at where our journeys took us and forward to where we might go next. There will be strong tea that tastes of smoke. There will be songs. There will be cake bread cooked with cinders.

Come on in and bring a blanket.

Toma invites the public to drop-in to Studio 3 on Thursdays from 10.00am to 4.30pm

The short film Wheel of Dreams will be screened during April - date and time to be confirmed.

Toma McCullim is an ‘artivist’- an activist artist. Her work is powered by a strong belief in social justice and environmental ecology. Her participatory practice empowers her collaborators in the amplification of their own authentic voice. As an anthropologist of art, she is interested in the fundamental question: ‘What does art do?’ Her work stimulates a call to action for creative change making.

Facebook Toma McCullim Insta @tomamccullim
https://www.toma-mccullim.com/

Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre's Artist Residency Programme is supported by the Arts Council and Cork County Council.