Notes From Sheepland

Orla Barry is a self-confessed sheep addict. She is a decade in sheep, she’s still wondering what possessed her to start but yet she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Orla lived in Brussels for 16 years and now lives and works in South East Ireland where she runs a flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep.

Her work deals with the tensions of being an artist and an eco-farmer in rural Ireland. The Sheep have slowed her art career but at the same time, caring for them has hugely inspired it. She escapes the studio by going to the sheep, escapes the sheep by hiding in her studio. Notes From Sheepland follows Orla, an outlier, as she floats between these worlds. It reflects upon the primal, poetic and unpredictable bond she has with the natural world.

The screening will be followed by a short conversation with the artist Orla Barry and visual art curator Kate Strain, founder of Kunstverein Aughrim.

‘A sensuous experience that demands a big-screen viewing’
- Hilary White, The Irish Independent

Director: Cara Holmes is a film editor and director and has worked on feature and short documentaries on a wide range of subjects, from the surreal world of self-experimentation to a visceral snapshot of choreographer and dancer, Oona Doherty.

Cara's editing credits include feature documentaries 'Piano Dreams', 'Father of the Cyborgs' and 'Lost in France'. Her directing credits include the award winning film 'Welcome To A Bright White Limbo'. She has presented her work at festivals including Dublin International Film Festival, HotDocs, Sheffield Doc|Fest, Aesthetica, Catalyst Film Festival, IFI Documentary festival, GAZE, Offline film festival and the Edinburgh film festival.

A co-presentation with Mermaid Arts Centre