Fatima Groups United

Figures of Eight

About the project:

‘Intergenerational micro-histories gathered from the local community will form the basis of an ambitious new work, to be delivered as a series of performative protests. As a working-class community in the heart of Dublin city – a demographic that is increasingly under threat of extinction – we want to give a voice to those who are fighting to remain in the City Centre. On a daily basis we see our cultural life and green spaces decimated, housing replaced by hotels and student accommodation that our Young People can’t afford to live in, our Young People are  leaving, again. We want to galvanize our community and empower audiences to think creatively about how we can collectively reclaim our place and physically occupy public space.’

Fatima Groups United | Biography

Supporting community wellbeing, children and families, education and employment.

Fatima Groups United Family Resource Centre is the representative body of residents and projects in Fatima/Herberton, Dublin 8. Established in 1995 Fatima Groups United has been the driving force behind the successful regeneration of Fatima that has seen the physical and social transformation of the old flats complex. The project operates from community development principles providing key services in the areas of health and wellbeing, education, employment, arts, childcare, counselling support, information and advice, family support and advocacy. fgu.ie

Veronica Dyas | Biography

Veronica Dyas is an Artist working primarily through new text, installation and Performance.  Facilitation, Action and LOVE are crucial to her practice. She works regularly with communities of identity, purpose, and/or place. She makes work to investigate contemporary living, acknowledging the visceral reality of past trauma while always focused towards healing. Rooted in her own lived experience, her work extends from the feminist declaration: the personal is the political.

While studying Drama and Theatre Studies with Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, she began to fuse sociological tools within her arts practice; Reflexive Practice informs her methodologies. The intention to be authentic, allowing what’s there to be present in the space, and self-identifying as female, white, Irish, queer, and working-class, extending to more nuanced lived experiences when pertinent. This practice informs the process, enabling the potential for real relationships to develop within.

Her underlying assumption is that we are beings of infinite potential, each and every one. She begins from a place of Equality, with the attempt to balance I Am free/I Am responsible continuously moving from the conceptual principle towards sustainable practices. She doesn’t always manage to hold that liminal ideological space, it’s an ongoing practice to try, starting with her own reparations, towards manifesting an equitable society. We are not there yet. That’s usually her initial motivation: to create work, to artistically interrogate the sociopolitical landscape, tracing root causes and wounds across time carved on the body politic. www.veronicadyas.com

Project Phases

Weekly Workshop Exploratory Sessions with members of Fatima Groups United and artist Veronica Dyas.

From January to June 2023, Fatima Groups United worked with artist Veronica Dyas on a weekly basis to devise material for a new project, ‘Figures of Eight’. This site-specific work builds on a number of collaborative projects and initiatives with Fatima Groups United (FGU) that explore the local area and its rich cultural history. 

Walking and Talking in the D8

In April 2023, Veronica began to incorporate her practice of walking within this process. She went walking with over twenty-five individuals who are from/live in/work in/hang out in the Dublin 8 area as part of her research, to gain a deeper understanding beyond her own lived experiences as a working class artist from the area.

Community Film Screening and Town Hall Gathering

On June 1st 2023, Dublin 8 residents came out to see the community screening of The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (2011) a documentary film directed by Chad Freidrichs detailing the history of the Pruitt–Igoe public housing complex in St. Louis, Missouri, and the eventual decision to raze the entire complex in 1976.

Following the screening a ‘town hall’ discussion around public housing, regeneration and gentrification was facilitated by Clare O’Connor.

The film was screened by Veronica Dyas in the F2 building, as part of her residency with Fatima Groups United.

Cube Residency

Part of Project Arts Centre’s collaboration with Fatima Groups United on this process, was to provide a Studio Week in Project Cube. In June 2023, this phase of the project was realised when the community worked towards their performance through a week-long residency in the CUBE. This marked the community’s first residency off-site and marks a significant step in their development as artistic collaborators.

Figures of Eight – A Moving Performance

On Friday 16th June 2023, eight people from the group performed in a moving performance for an invited performance and the general public. It began at the F2 Centre where FGU is based. Photos by Jacek Snochowski (FruitFrame)

Credits

This is a partnership project between Project Arts Centre and Fatima Groups United, funded by the Arts Council of Ireland Artist in the Community Project Realisation Award, managed by CREATE, the national development agency for collaborative arts, Ireland.

As part of the Rhizome project, commissioned artist Louis Haugh, worked in collaboration with the Fatima Groups United community to look at the future of food cultivation, consumption, and global supply chains in light of climate breakdown. Together, they created a space to share ideas, histories and personal relationships connected to food and nourishment. Through a series of intergenerational and intercultural exchanges, their intrinsic human relationship to bread and bread making became core of this work. 

Anima Fatima

Anima Fatima was presented in Project’s Cube space in November 2021. The presentation included a series of short art films made by Philip Connaughton and Luca Truffarelli, in collaboration with eight women from Fatima Groups United. The word ‘Anima’ is the Latin term for soul and this work represents these strong, creative individuals, who together form part of the vibrant fabric of Dublin 8.

The works were developed as the culmination of a summer project in 2021 called Dance Uncovered. Through this project, dance was taken outside the studio and onto the streets. It was an incredibly positive experience where everyone got to know each other better. Very quickly, and particularly because of the isolating nature of lockdown, it became apparent that there was a strong desire to congregate, talk and dance, and a need for deeper creative expression within the group.

These films are the ideas, images, stories and movements that these women decided to share. A glimpse into the soul of Dublin’s Fatima.

The Participants: Betty Fogarty, Wafa’a Mustafa Zeniah, Rose Lyndon, Geraldine Guy, Doris Weldon, Kristina McElroy, Naima Taleb, Mary Kennedy

A note from Fatima Groups United

Dance Uncovered and its offspring Anima Fatima are highlights of our Fatima Groups United arts and culture work in 2021 during Covid 19 when restrictions were partially lifted.

We first met Philip Connaughton on a Fatima Culture Club trip to his show Mamafesta Memorialising in February 2020 as part of Project Fatima ALL IN. Phillip did a Q&A for us (big thanks to Veronica Dyas who organised our trip).

To see Phillip inspire a group through choreography and to observe Luca Truffarelli capture this adventure on film has been a pleasure.

A big thank you to Phillippa Donnellan who gave everyone the dance bug at Fatima Groups United and set us on our way.

Finally – this installation project would be nothing without 8 gorgeous strong and creative women – Betty, Geraldine, Rose, Wafaa, Mary, Naima, Kristina and Doris.

And finally finally – thanks to Cathy Coughlan (Project Potential) our co-conspirator, Orla Moloney and Cian O’Brien at the Project, the Programme Development Team at FGU and Dublin City Arts Office who fund our arts work.

The soul of Fatima is alive!

Credits

Producer-coordinator for Fatima Groups United: Richie Keane

Co-Created by Philip Connaughton and Luca Truffarelli

Fatima Groups United is funded by Dublin City Council Arts Office; supported by IMMA; developed through the Project Potential Programme; commissioned by Project Arts Centre.

Project Arts Centre is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Dublin City Council.

Dance Uncovered (sensational)

Site Specific Community Project in collaboration with FGU – Dublin 8 – June 2021.

Over four weeks in June 2021, Philip Connaughton will led a site specific project with participants from Fatima Groups United (FGU). Philip revisited his work Dance Uncovered (sensational) from 2015, to include film and outdoor ‘walk and talk’ tours, along with interactive digital maps, covering 12 sites in Dublin 8.

Dance Uncovered (sensational) is a roller coaster performative lecture about pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about contemporary dance as an art form and how to go about understanding what you’re seeing. Delving into his own career as an example, he will bare his soul with anecdotes, movement and humour to explain his own shift from figurative to abstract dance – and why it’s not so weird.

Map Routes

Download an interactive PDF map below and click on each of the numbered areas to view site specific film works.

The films will be made available for viewing in June 2021. Passwords available to project participants only. For more information, please contact cathy@projectartscentre.ie

Map 1 →  FGU → St Catherine’s Church →  IMMA

Map 2  → Donore Boxing Club → Weaver Skatepark → Reginald Street 1929 Religious Shrine

Map 3 → Heuston Station → The Floozie in the Jacuzzi → The Lighthouse Cinema

Map 4 → Golden Bridge Cemetery → Goldenbridge Luas stop → Golden Bridge River bank

Credits

Philip Connaughton: Choreographer/performer
Luca Truffarelli: Videographer and sound designer
Emily Ni Bhroin: Costume designer and maker
Marion Cronin: Performer
Sarah Ryan: Performer

Produced by Project Arts Centre, in collaboration with Richie Keane (FGU) and Company Philip Connaughton

Philip Connaughton is a Project Artist | www.philipconnaughton.com