HOLYLANDS

The focal point of Harahan’s work is everyday life. His subject is largely the city of Belfast, captured on film in an incidental and reflective manner that avoids any overt commentary.

Based in Belfast, the artist shot the film both through the window of his home and on the streets occupying a 20-yard radius from his house. The film’s title, ‘Holylands‘, is the name of Harahan’s neighbourhood, a district of Belfast city that combines a transient student population with more long term residents.

The film, in part, depicts these people, showing fragments of their passage through this territory but firmly resists either a documentary or narrative reading. It is possible to extrapolate a politics from this work but one that is inflected with diffuse experiences of urban space including the sensory and the absurd.

The film’s images are spliced together with a soundtrack that includes hip – hop, traditional Irish and Middle Eastern music. This provides a counterbalance to the images portrayed and allows them to function as abstract sequences.

Andrew Kelly review of ‘Holylands, published in Circa, Summer 2004, Issue 108