[We Must Not Act Like] Children of our Parents was an experimental exhibition that investigated the ongoing colonial legacies that exist within our cultural subconscious.

For this exhibition, I produced a single immersive work designed specifically for Studio 12. The installation served as a testing ground to find ways of illuminating the human consequences and experiences of a post-colonial Ireland by reappropriating some of the symbols and apparatus of colonialism. 

 Upon entering the space, viewers were confronted by a view of the south colonnade of the British Museum, a triumph in 18th century neoclassicism whose logical, symmetrical structure attempts to recreate the nobility and grandeur of Ancient Greek civilization and promote a sense of power and unquestionable authority.

This work challenges our historical and emotional connection to the pristine white marble column by presenting neoclassical architecture as a socially and historically recognised symbol of colonial power. I intentionally introduced contradictions into the work to disrupt the viewers senses and perceptions. The low ceilings in Studio 12, juxtaposed with the towering columns of the British Museum, created a bizarre contradiction of space that was made both comical and oppressive by the my manipulation of scale and materiality. This deliberate friction or incongruency within the space invited the viewer to consider diverse interpretations of the work.

[We Must Not Act Like] Children of our Parents was designed to be a pointed, irreverent commentary on what is still, in the 21st century, a bastion of imperialist ideologies. Crucially, it strived to transcend linguistic boundaries and create an embodied experience of colonialism — a visceral, unconscious encounter that immersed viewers in the complex narratives woven into the work.