A Line was Drawn by Mairéad McClean on show at Highlanes Gallery, Ireland

Mairéad McClean
A Line Was Drawn (2019)
video projection
15 min, S8, archival footage

The piece weaves together material from a number of different sources to explore issues of how our world is structured through the creation of borders and boundaries limiting movement, thinking, questioning and agency. Through its layered format and contrasting sources of sound, A Line Was Drawn aims to question the construct of seamless television documentary and news narratives tasked with conveying a particular story to convince or intrench a point of view.

A Line Was Drawn was commissioned and produced by The Wapping Project  as part of the body of works  Making Her Mark by Mairéad McClean. The production was supported by the Arts Council Northern Ireland and Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre and Uist Film, North Uist, Scotland.

Picturing the Border 1921-2026

Focusing on representations of the Irish border in painting, print, photography, film, mixed-media and popular culture, as well as objects and ephemera, the exhibition Picturing the Border explores how artists have reacted and responded to the border since 1922. The exhibition shows communities on both sides of the border and how the division of the country has impacted on the counties and region in a range of unique ways, moving away from stereotypical and clichéd depictions of the region.

Highlanes Municipal Art Gallery’s  location as a cultural institution in Drogheda, within the border county of Louth, and the North East of the island, has ideally positioned it to draw on artistic partnerships and local contacts, networks and institutions  for this major exhibition to reveal a cultural response to the over one-hundred year old boundary. The gallery was developed in a cross-border capital project, and 2026 marks the twentieth anniversary of its founding.

Co-curated by Dr Orla Fitzpatrick and Aoife Ruane, the exhibition presents works by thirty artists from public and private collections from Ireland and Northern Ireland, and from artists’ studios.

Highlanes Gallery
36 Saint Laurence Street
A92 F7PH Drogheda
Ireland

10.30 am–5.00 pm, Tuesday – Saturday