Tara James Power 

Tara James investigates industrial labour in relationship to masculinity, rural living and queer identity. Their project is driven by self-determination and the refusal to be undermined by Irish cultural ideals of masculinity, which are often framed by participation in hard physical labour. In response to their own words, thoughts, and memories, they write poetry and combine text with archival images in order to generate performative ideas. The artist pushes the limitations of their body in order to demonstrate queer exhaustion - the experience of having to prove yourself, your identity, and your abilities in spite of gendered assumptions and expectations. They use their own body as a tool to explore these concepts, and respond to disregarded materials found on their father's worksite (aka the back garden). By interacting with materials, such as timber posts, wooden palettes, and steel wire mesh, their body becomes a site of resistance.