Accompanying the exhibition Raise Your Spear, join artists Dani Gill and Joe Caslin for a conversation about art and activism, faciltated by writer Jessica Traynor, giving voice to communities and the nature of installation work.
Dani Gill is a writer, artist, and producer, based in the west of Ireland. She has served as Director of Cúirt International Festival of Literature (2010-2016), Director of Ennis Book Club Festival (2020-2022) and has held production and creative roles in theatre, film, circus and public art. She was Performing Arts Curator for the Bealtaine Festival for 3 years, Ireland’s national festival supporting creativity as we age. A love of site specific art inspired her to create ‘The Lighthouse Project’, a successful European partner initiative involving artists responding to lighthouses and their communities. She is Executive Producer for Decadent Theatre Company and is working on adaptations of two prize winning novels for the stage. Her written work includes After Love (2017, Salmon Poetry) and Lessons in Kindness (2023, Salmon Poetry). After Love was made into a short film and a full stage show that premiered at Galway International Arts Festival in 2021 and the Galway Film Fleadh. She is also a sculptor and visual artist, specialising in installation and community driven projects. Her LGBTQ+ Allyship project RAISE YOUR SPEAR will be exhibited in May/June 2026 as well as her EPIC: Empowering People in Care project, working with young people in care on rights based art. She holds a Diploma in Community Development and Youth Work and is passionate about supporting the creative vision of young people. She is Chairperson of Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, and has worked with Droichead over a number of years curating the literature programme.
Joe Caslin is an Irish street artist, art teacher and activist. Best known for his beautifully rendered pencil drawings, which manifest as towering pieces of street art. His highly accessible work engages directly with the social issues of modern Ireland, on an unavoidable scale. Caslin confronts the subjects of suicide, drug addiction, economic marginalisation, marriage equality, stigma in mental health, direct provision, institutional power, consent and most recently, the effects of the Covid19 pandemic on young people. The monochrome drawings Caslin creates live with us and against many of us for some time before washing away. They hold a mirror up to the kind of society that we are, whilst asking us individually what kind of society we want to be a part of.
Jessica Traynor is the author of four critically acclaimed books of poetry. Her third collection, Pit Lullabies (Bloodaxe Books, 2022) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her latest collection, New Arcana, was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2025. Awards include the 2024 Tundish Award from Field Day for contribution to the arts in Ireland, and the 2023 Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry. She was the 2023 Arts Council Writer in Residence at Galway University and is a Creative Fellow of UCD. She is poetry editor at Banshee Press.