Current Board

Silvia Koistinen

Silvia Koistinen is a visual artist from Co. Clare with Finnish and Brazilian heritage. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2020 with a Bachelors in Fine Art, and completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Cultural Events Management at the Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, Dun Laoighre in 2021.

Her visual arts practice observes the materiality of objects, creating physical encounters with objects and their inherent phenomena, and exploring the influence of text on our perception of objects. 

Her most recent project - ‘object + word', co-curated with Daniel Anthony McCabe, explored this relationship between objects and words in various artists' practices.

Silvia is also interested in the importance of conversation in the development of visual arts practices. She founded Lucida Collective with fellow graduates as a network of care - supporting and nurturing creative practices through conversation and collaboration. Their project, ‘Infinite Becomings’, prioritised process over finished products, embracing the fluidity of making and viewing the artistic process as a state of infinite becoming.

She was granted the Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland in 2021, is a member of Miscreating Sculpture, and a member of the Flax Art Studios Emerging Artist Programme, alongside being a Flax Art's Project Space Committee member.


 
 

Seán Ward

Seán Ward he/him (b.1999) is a curator based between Belfast and Derry. Having completed a Bachelor of Arts in Curating at Goldsmiths, University of London, his work explores the shared social labour of queerness. 

Since graduating, Seán has held previous roles in arts administration with Gasworks and Whitechapel Gallery, London. This year he has held a series of workshops with Mid Ulster Pride and looks forward to continuing and encouraging a community-focused curatorial practice.

Rachael Melvin

Husk Bennett

Rachael Melvin (b. 1996) is a visual artist from Dublin, with a BFA from Dublin School of Creative Arts at Technological University Dublin.  Her practice explores the making and changing of space through the lens of culture and community. 

Rachael's work is particularly concerned with the architectural realization of our surroundings and how they impact the way in which we activate space and the role this has on inter community dynamics. 

Since graduating, Rachael has taken part in The Douglas Hyde's Student Forum III (2021) where she exhibitited her work titled Revisiting Form: A Shared Experience as part of Rendering New Realities: Access and Alterity. She has also taken part in ~Non-Events~ (2021), an eight month site-specific project and exhibition at Arcade Studios Belfast, curated by Kate Murphy.


 

Emma Quin

Emma is a multi-media artist, writer and maker based in Belfast. Working with a variety of mediums, textures and pre-existing materials, Emma creates multi-dimensional works and text that communicates with the viewer. Throughout her writing and visual art, her practice borrows from familiar objects she encounters in her day-to-day life and her lived experiences. Emma also enjoys writing and publishing personal essays and cultural criticism, having work published online and in print by @polyesterzine @neighbourhoodmagazine and @readdork. Emma is currently an artist in residence at Digital Artist Studios Belfast and member of Soup Ink Writers Co-op.

Husk Bennett is a visual artist from Belfast, with a BA(Hons) in Fine Art & Art History from Manchester School of Art. Husk’s practice explores narratives of absurdity, queerness and humor within art.


Since graduating, Husk has exhibited extensively across the UK + Ireland including ‘The Gallery S1’ with Artichoke Trust, Short Supply’s ‘Queer Contemporaries’ in AIR Gallery, Manchester, and our very own FIX ‘21. Alongside this, he has taken part in The MAC’s Hatch & Scratch scheme from 2021-22, is on the committee for the Flax Arts Project Space and is currently supported by Belfast City Council.


 

Previous Directors

Dominic McKeown, Cecelia Graham, Kate Murphy, Manuela Moser, Jen Alexander, Tara McGinn, Rachel Botha, Thomas Wells, Leah Corbett, Emma Brennan, Anne Mager, Edy Fung, Liam McCartan, Peter Glasgow,Siobhan Kelly, Conor Mullan, John Macormac, Michael Edgar, Alessia Cargnelli, Emily McFarland, Joey O’Gorman, Edel O’ Reilly, Mitch Conlon, Mary Stevens, Michaela Butler, Jane Butler, Phillip McCrilly, Brígh Strawbridge, Iain Griffin, Amy Brooks, Alice Clark, Rob Hilken, Katrina Sheena Smyth, Alissa Kleist, Ruaidhri Lennon, David Mahon, Emmanuelle Nègre, Tonya McMullan, Eoin Dara, Nathan Crothers, Catherine Neill, Kim McAleese, Mark De Conink, Anne McAuley, John Cashin, Charlotte Bosanquet, Aideen Doran, Kate McCullough, Johanna Leech, Fionnuala Doran, Sara o Gorman, Rachel Brown, Brighdin Farren, Caelan Bristow, Colm Clarke, Benjamin de Burca, Fuyuka Shindo, Leo Devlin, Helen Sharp, Lucy Edwards, Jude Bennett, Meabh O’Donnell, Kim Montgomery, Brendan O’Neill, Phil Hession, Lurach Bredin, Cian Donnelly, Clive Murphy, Allan Hughes, John Mathews, Ursula Burke, Deirdre McKenna, Elina Medley, Justin McKeown, Cherie Driver, Fiona Ni Mhaoilir, Niall Mc Cabe, Julie Bacon, Grainne Cullen, Seamus Harahan, Elina Medley, Joanna Fursmann, Keike Twisselmann, Jane Anderson, Stephen Hackett, Stella d’Ailly, Phil Collins, Heather Allen, Ruth Jones, Dan Shipsides, Brian Patterson, Niamh O’Malley, Angela Darby, Eoghan Mc Tigue, Peter Richards, Susan Phillipz, Toby Dennet, Duncan Campbell, Dougal Mc Kenzie, Sandra Johnston, Siofra Campbell, Robert Peters, Derval Fitzgerald, Karen Vaughan, Eillis O’Baoill, Mark Orange