The Lived Resistance: A Phenomenological Portrait of Protest in Contemporary Ireland

The Lived Resistance: A Phenomenological Portrait of Protest in Contemporary Ireland

This autumn, I'm presenting a prelude to a planned solo exhibition in 2026: The Lived Resistance: A Phenomenological Portrait of Protest in Contemporary Ireland. ( working title )

It’s been a while, and I’m looking forward to sharing this body of work—photography, film, and visual art—that explores presence, protest, and lived experience in contemporary Ireland.

The Lived Resistance A Phenomenological Portrait of Protest in Contemporary Ireland:

This exhibition is a visual meditation on the lived experience of protest in contemporary Ireland — a country shaped by a long tradition of resistance, from colonial struggle to civil rights movements, and into the urgent calls of today. Through the lens of phenomenology, explore not just the events of protest, but the interior world of those who resist: their bodies, gestures, silences, and presence.

We live in paradoxical times: humanity has achieved extraordinary technological advances, yet the world remains fractured. Inequality deepens. War, displacement, and systemic injustices threaten the dignity of millions. Ireland, though geographically small, holds the echoes of global tension — through housing crises, environmental movements, the legacies of partition and emigration, and the ongoing demands for justice and care.

The island’s history — of famine, rebellion, civil disobedience, and cultural survival — pulses beneath each act of modern resistance. This body of work captures moments where the personal becomes political — where ordinary individuals step into the public sphere and embody resistance.

These are not just protests; they are felt experiences, acts of memory, mourning, solidarity, and hope. In these photographs, protest is not merely seen — it is lived.

In these photographs and objects, protest is not merely seen — it is lived, held, and remembered. It inhabits the body and extends into the things we carry: banners stitched by hand, placards weathered by rain, scarves wrapped in defiance, shoes worn thin by marching.

These materials are not just symbols — they are vessels of memory, weight, and will.

To live protest is to defy silence. To live it is to hold history in your hands and carry it forward.

To live it is to declare: we are not alone — we are the continuity of resistance.

And to live it, is to remember: we are not alone. We never were.

—Jacqui Devenney Reed

The Lived Resistance: A Phenomenological Portrait of Protest in Contemporary Ireland

Launch Event: 10th October, 7pm

Lifford Old Courthouse, Lifford, Co. Donegal

Exhibition Dates: 10th – 30th October

Opening Hours: Weekdays, 10am – 3.30pm