Array Collective is a group of 11 artists who create collaborative actions in response to socio-political issues affecting Northern Ireland. The collective has been working together more actively since 2016, motivated by the growing anger around human rights issues happening at the time. Array reclaim and question traditional identities in the North of Ireland using humour and DIY approaches. They playfully merge performance, protest, ancient mythology, photography, installation and video. They work with a range of other creative people and organisations to create a combination of artistic expression, direct action and public interventions in the city and online. Their work embraces joy and empathy in their art-activist practice and calls attention to our need for one another by joining wider demands for rights. Array Collective are the first Northern Irish based artists to win the prestigious Turner Prize in 2021 with their work The Druthaib’s Ball.
Array Collective are Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell, Jane Butler, Emma Campbell, Alessia Cargnelli, Mitch Conlon, Clodagh Lavelle, Grace McMurray, Stephen Millar, Laura O’Connor, and Thomas Wells. The collective is based and works in Belfast.
Recent initiatives and exhibitions include The Druthaib’s Ball, Ulster Museum, 2023; The Druthaib’s Ball, Galway Arts Centre, 2022; The Druthaib’s Ball, Tuner Prize 2021, Herbert Gallery, Coventry, 2021-22; As Others See Us, Jerwood Collaborate!, Jerwood Arts, London, 2019; and a-n Artists Council’s Artists Make Change, 2020. They regularly projects in response to issues such as queer liberation, abortion rights, mental health, gentrification, eco-politics, social welfare and Northern Ireland’s fractured past.