Greetings from the Countryside (Strong Emotions)

A History of Head Trauma

This book is a very useful, hopefully funny and sometimes sad collection of art writing.  Designed by Christopher Steenson and printed by Ciarán Smith (Plus Print), A History of Head Trauma is an experiment in short story making and produced as part of my presentation at ‘FUTURES, Series 3, Episode 2’ at the RHA Gallery I, Dublin, in 2018.

The beginning section of the book was made using my Grandfather’s former secretary’s electric typewriter, which he gave to me during a winter I spent living with him while on residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York. After our time spent together and on arrival back to Ireland, a jolt of 220 volt to its mechanical heart sadly killed the typewriter and it immediately failed to work any further.

The blue section of the book began to be written in Granny’s old henhouse (Irish Granny, not married to New York Granddad) in Inch, Co. Kerry, and the pink section was commenced at the Irish Museum, while on a research residency into the work of Lucian Freud.

The GAA pink lotto paper was spotted in the window of a schools supplies shop in Dingle, down the road from where I worked in Kennedy’s Bar and each story was printed and then scanned on a thirty euro printer bought under duress at Harvey Norman’s in Tralee before my move to Dublin.

The pieces continued to be made during the long winter which followed at the Fire Station Artists’ Studios in Dublin and subsequently form an experimental narrative, about time spent in several different places.

The book dimensions are: 21 x 29.7 x and is 96 pages in length.

A History of Head Trauma is available to purchase from The Library Project

Less Stress More Success

Less Stress More Success is a short booklet to accompany a group exhibition curated by Rachel Botha at Kilkenny Arts Office Gallery in 2020.

Participating artists were; Eimear Murphy, Saidhbhín Gibson and Laura Fitzgerald.

The commissioned text written my me (Laura Fitzgerald), titled ‘Acquiring Anti-Obsessional Attitudes’ is in part an art writing piece and partially a written exercise, exploring modes of what it’s like to be artist and participate within the art world.

Curator: Rachel Botha

Design: Models & Constructs

Published by Kilkenny Arts Office
15 pages
210 x 150 mm

The Inch Conglomerate

The Inch Conglomerate newspaper was produced by artist Laura Fitzgerald, to accompany her outdoor installation Cosmic Granny in Inch, Co. Kerry, Ireland.

Design, editing and layout by Christopher Steenson.

“Collectively, the stories in The Inch Conglomerate suggest a pervasive bureaucratic vision that dismisses and disallows “the old days” and the individuals who might personify the old days, Granny included. There’s a denial of rural Ireland as a living environment. It’s become a somewhere else, discounted and wrapped in plastic. Granny in Orbit is a symbol of exuberant, unapologetic endurance on the part of the old days, a gesture of hope in the face of adversity.” – Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times

Self Published
Newsprint
8 pages
380 x 580 mm

The Inch Conglomerate is available to buy here:

The Restless Bogman