Renèe Helèna Browne (they/them) works across film, drawing and spoken word to examine different experiences of time as it intersects with sexuality, gender, and place. Working across film, text, drawing and spoken word, they explore complicated relationships to the carefulness of portraiture, and the impossibility of faithful representation. Their characters (whether abstract, first person, selected from history or found through existing kinship structures) often elude the act of ‘comprehensive’ portraiture, finding alternative mythic yet deeply intimate narratives. Intimacy is encountered as both strained and irrefutable in a close reading of other chosen bodies in relation to fandom, the family, romance, and religion. Browne deconstructs these troubled systems of world building to form dense, multi-layered art works.
Browne has exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Edinburgh Art Festival 2024 co-commissioned with the University of Edinburgh Art Collection, Bahia Independent Film Festival Brazil, Project Arts Centre with aemi and Cinenova, Freelands Foundation, Talbot Rice Gallery, Centre for Contemporary Art Glasgow, LUX Scotland, David Dale Gallery at P/////AKT Amsterdam, the European Media Art Festival No. 34, TULCA Visual Art Festival, bff/Docs Ireland, and Rua das Gaivotas, Lisbon. They were awarded the Salzburger Kunstverein Sunset Kino Award 2021 for excellence in contemporary film. Browne’s work is represented in public collections of The Arts Council and the University of Edinburgh Art Collection.
Visit Renèe Helèna Browne’s website here
February 2025, participating on Dwell Here Research Intensive from 05 – 11 February 2025
Primarily responding themes related to The Irish Paradigm initial research and plans for Browne’s residency look at specific confluences between religious apparitions and politics in the context of the Irish Land War, referred to often as ‘the agitation’.
Dwell Here offers participants a simple proposition: to commit to this time and place while thinking deeply about its urgencies. Together we are curious to learn what can be activated or challenged through the process of dwelling. IMMA encourages reflection across the following themes to consider geographical, historical, political and cultural concepts of Ireland as a starting point to expand and connect international contexts through similarities and differences:
Technologies of Peace – to consider commemorative landscapes and memories of peace (as a dream, movement, or value) while generating perspectives on sustainable coexistence.
The Irish Paradigm – Welcomes artistic research that creates intimacy and connections, while celebrating the perceived agility and freedoms of operating on the periphery. As a small island on the edge of Europe, Ireland often has a challenging relationship with ‘the centre’.
The Museum as a Site of Vibration – consider how the museum and site can create new vibrations and rhythms within the built legacy of empire. How can museums make visible cultural shifts, including erased, censored or marginalised histories, as well as sustainability, planetary care, sharing and hospitality.