OUTREACH CO-ORDINATOR

Ryan Allen is a visual artist from Belfast, specialising in lens-based processes. He finished his BA at Ulster University in July 2022, achieving a First class honours in Photography with Video. He also graduated from one year of International Studies at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest. Ryan became one of five recipients of RADAR for PhotoIreland. He joined the 2023 Futures Platform as one of five Irish artists, culminating in an annual networking event at the RCCPC. He now volunteers at Platform, with a passion to develop his curation skills whilst building relationships within the local arts scene.

OUTREACH CO-ORDINATOR

Emily Ní Laibheartaigh is an artist and naturalist based in Belfast. She graduated from Falmouth University in 2021 with a BA(Hons) in Fine Art. She began her artistic career primarily as a painter but her practice has also included taxidermy, specifically skeletal articulation. Her focus in her work has always been in the natural sciences, and blending this with her own interests in folklore and history. The life force behind a lot of her inspiration is the community and people, which is why she joined Platform as a Co-Director in March 2024. She recently participated in the 2024 Feile Plein Air Landscape competition.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Rachel Kavanagh is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Belfast. She graduated from BSoA in 2024 with a BA (Hons) and MFA in Fine Art. She is currently a studio holder at Flax Art in the Emerging Artist Program. She has been the recipient of the Alice Berger Hammerschlag Award, Platform Arts Graduate Award and longlisted for the RDS. She has participated in exhibitions across Ireland, the UK and the USA. Her practice is predominantly sculpture-based, focusing on concepts such as queer bodily discomfort and flesh objects.

Erin Bennett is an artist and designer from Donegal, specialising in graphic design and illustration. She is an ATU Galway Design graduate, she blends analogue and digital techniques to explore themes like self-discovery, nationality, and the human experience. Now Belfast based, her practice involves printmaking and illustration in experimental ways.

My name is Halszka Trąbczyńska and am a painter and illustrator based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I am passionate about many things, like music, food, art ( obviously!) but most of all- myths , legends and lore from around the World.
My early childhood I have spent reading for hours volumes of Grimm Brothers, Christian Andersen , stolen comic books like “Lobo”, “ Thorgal”, or series of “Superman” and classics from JRR Tolkien and Terry Pratchett. I have to recognise undisputed influence of Russian myths available in my house , and must say I believe millions times I have cried over a Fire Bird (Phoenix) or over tiny , hunchbacked pony’s sad life…

All this and my very colourful, diverse friends shaped my way of presenting life.