Happy International Women's Day 2022 from CCA Derry~Londonderry!

CCA Staff and Board want to wish all our visitors, patrons, artists, performers, freelancers and facilitators a happy International Women's Day 2022! Here's a roundup to showcase all the wonderful women we've worked with over the past year.

Our first new exhibition of the year URGENCIES (2021) saw us install work across the city from Bryony Dunne, Edy Fung, Kathryn Graham, Siobhán Kelly and Lucie McLaughlin. Films, papers and QR codes were shared in the windows of various establishments around the town for the public to encounter on their daily walks. In May 2021 we had new work by Rachael Campbell-Palmer and Array Collective member Grace McMurray in the gallery space for Irish Modernisms. Alongside the show we hosted the Global Contexts seminar series, inviting speakers Anna Liesching and Fionna Barber to discuss the significant role that women artists played in the beginnings of modernism in Ireland; Dr Harper Montgomery spoke on modernism in Latin America; art historian Mari Laanemets detailed the life of Estonian modernist woman painter Sirje Runge. Our last show of the year Tilt [at WIndmills] – curated by Mirjami Schuppert – opened in November 2021, with new Teletext work by Fionnuala Doran on display. The Teletext workshop Hidden Signals was a success, with facilitation for the participants by artist Raquel Meyers.

The CCA Project Space was occupied in March 2021 by dancer and performer Janie Doherty with recordings made by collaborator Locky Morris for their small exhibition nothing (but windows). Short films could be spied through the windows of the gallery at 10–12 Artillery Street. The first CCA Graduate Award was award in 2021 to Susan Hughes, with the prize granting Hughes access to the CCA Project Space for her exhibition I WAS NEVER LOST. In March 2021 we had multidisciplinary artist Priya Mistry (whatsthebigmistry) in the gallery space for a month long stay to evolve THE LABBODY WORKSHOP: TOOLS, FOLDS, ROLLS & FRAMES.

Our first series of three digital residencies took place on the new CCA website; Alberta Whittle started us off in May 2021 with Creating Dangerously, followed in October 2021 by duo Cat and Eimear McClay's Holy Blood which became an open sketchbook by the pair on their research into the Magdalene Laundries across Ireland. Artist Ciara Finnegan ended the year in November 2021 with The Indoor Tree. Our CCA Introducing programme of social media takeovers included participation by Nat Akinyi, Fionn Duffy, Francesca Hutchinson, Gemma Kirkpatrick, Landi Kirkwood, Rosie O'Grady, Ellen O'Donohue Oddy, Liv Preston, Claudia Rose, Vera Ryklova and Ellie Towers.

Our Public Programmes events throughout the year included the Summer Family Activity devised by Vasiliki Stasinaki for IMAGINE. MAKE. PLAY. and Schools Programmes activity by Sarah McNabb for Rhombus. For National Drawing Day in May 2021, local artist Molly McFadden created Mud. Sligo-based artist Kiera O'Toole came to town for Walking Through Felt Drawing; she invited passersby at the Peace Bridge to join her in using charcoal to scribble along the pavements to create ephemeral drawings. Accompanying Irish Modernisms in July 2021 was a modernist typography workshop with designer Laura Nelson. Our cultural calendar events saw us host Supporting Cast by Aimee Melaugh for Cathedral Quarter Weekend in September 2021, Samhain outdoor film projection by Shannon Patterson for Derry Halloween 2021, and two Dye Lab workshops led by textile artist Lyndsey McDougall.

The 2021 window text series had us commission writing and designs by Lucie McLaughlin for Quieter Coastal; Valentine Emilia Bossert and Éimear O'Keane for Portrait of Y; Katriona Sweeney for Grey Observation: Jan 2021; Sara O'Brien for See; Sarah Long and Jacky Sheridan for Skin Loving Language; Laura Fitzgerald for Some art things I explain in emojis; Tara McGinn for Mincers; Lena Chen for Erotic Labour is Essential Labour; Meadhbh McNutt for Pierrot and Michaela Nash for Painting To See the Skies. 2021 Spring.

Following on from our 2020 edition of the DeMo Residency, we were delighted to invite Lithuanian artist Ona Juciūtė to our city for the month in February 2022. Ona took over the CCA Project Space to research the history of textiles, and will be using her findings to inform her upcoming solo show at CCA Derry~Londonderry. Stay tuned for more details!

We welcomed new CCA Research Associates Bojana Janković and Lucie McLaughlin. They join those from our previous cohorts Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell, Chinasa Vivian Ezugha and Marie-Andrée Pellerin (2021), and Array Collective member Alessia Cargnelli, Borbála Soós and Katharina Stadler (2020).