Ronnie Danaher
I am an artist and filmmaker working with moving image, digital technology and sculptural installation to explore the sacred in the digital world. My work is informed by the humour and pressures of my experiences growing up in a large Irish Catholic family, and the internet as a space to prototype alternative identities and systems of belief.
My work is strongly rooted in the digital, and I enjoy manipulating non-art programmes and technologies such as Microsoft Excel to make moving images and GIFs. I use stained-glass as an extension of the screen, like a frame for my films. Playfulness is used as a tool to confront complex feelings around my religious upbringing, emphasising the inherent campness of Catholic imagery.
Recurring themes in my practice include the sacred, screens, internet echo chambers, memes, social media, Irish heritage, family dynamics, guilt and shame, as part of an ongoing research project investigating and collaging the interconnections between digital culture and belief systems. Currently, I am working on a new project that’s looking into the legend of Saint Wilgefortis, involving Gregorian Chant, Sean-nós singing, karaoke and Madonna’s Like a Prayer.
Awards & Residencies
Dos Mares, Marseille, 2024.
Beyond Boundaries - BJCEM, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, 2024.
Developing Your Creative Practice Grant - Arts Council England, 2023-24.
New Artist Collective - UK New Artists Lincoln, 2022-23.
hotel generation - 1 of 4 selected artists - arebyte Gallery, London, 2020.
The Art House Graduate Residency - Wakefield, February 2020.
Best Collective Award - Free Range Shows, London, July 2019.
Two Queens Summer School Residency - Culminating in exhibition Eh?, Leicester, August 2017.
Solo Shows
iConfess - ACE & Leeds Inspired funded exhibition - Assembly House, Leeds, June 2022.
Group Shows
2024
Festival PAC (Provence Art Contemporain) - Dos Mares, Marseille.
Relation de Voyage Screening Programme - SLQS Gallery, London.
Beyond Boundaries - Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan.
2023
Leeds Artists Show - Leeds Art Gallery.
I Was Baptised in Fortnite - School of the Damned X West, Antwerp Mansion, Manchester.
Soft Egg, Don’t Wear It - The Salthouse, Lincoln.
2022
Screen Time - Screening programme, Assembly House, Leeds.
Taking Place - UK New Artists, Lincoln.
Put Your Feet Up - Hyde Park Art Club, Leeds.
2021
Dataism Confessional - arebyte on Screen, online.
2020
Cough Like Nobody’s Watching - Anharmonic Film Festival, online.
Graduate Residency Showcase - The Art House, Wakefield.
2019
Real Life is Much Stranger - Freehold Projects, Leeds.
Free Range Shows - Truman Brewery, London.
Cut the Mustard - University of Leeds Undergraduate Degree Show - University of Leeds.
Spread the Mustard - Freehold Projects, Leeds.
This is a gift to - The Brunswick, Leeds.
Busy Hands - Freehold Artist Film Screening, Leeds.
Charity Shop Open - Bad Video Art Festival, Moscow, Russia.
Ones to Watch - Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley.
Letters of Love - Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds.
2018
1 Like = 1 Prayer - University of Leeds, Leeds.
Life's a Beach and Then You Die - Leeds Big Screen, Millennium Square.
Certified, Fresh, Free-Range Art - Barcelona Loop Cityscreen Festival, La Cera 13, Barcelona.
Life's a Beach and Then You Die - SiCinéma Film Festival, Café des Images Cinéma, Caen.
Wish you were here - University of Leeds, Leeds.
Space is the Place - Atelier Hyph, Marseille.
Uncommon Ground - Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille.
2017
Eh? - Two Queens, Leicester.
Finding Both Your Hands - Assembly House, Leeds.
Personal Space - Art Hostel, Leeds.
Education
2015-19 1st class BA Hons Fine Art with History of Art, University of Leeds
2017-18 Erasmus+ exchange year, École supérieure des beaux-arts de Marseille
2014-15 Distinction in Foundation in Art and Design, De Montfort University
