A Question of Taste: Suzy O’Mullane

CORK-BASED artist Suzy O’Mullane has a performance/video/sound event at The Guesthouse, Cork, with Harry Moore on Saturday at 3pm. She will also have a solo exhibition entitled ‘There Was Nothing Good About Good Friday’ at the Origin Gallery in Dublin from March 12.

Best recent book: An Area Of Darkness, by VS Naipaul, a travelogue, and forms part of a trilogy. It describes a visit by the author to India, in the 1960s. I like well-written travelogues in general, when they transport the reader to inaccessible places. I also read John Banville’s Ancient Light, which is beautiful in terms of prose style and pathos.

Best recent film: Blood Rising, directed by Mark McLoughlin, featuring artist Brian Maguire. It’s a documentary which is set in Juárez, a city in Mexico nicknamed ‘the capital of murdered women’ where there are lot of femicides, to which the authorities turn a blind eye. Best recent show/exhibition: Carrie Mae Weems who is described as a “socially motivated artist whose works invite contemplation of race, gender, and class”, which I saw at the Guggenheim, NY. Her ‘Kitchen Table Series’ (1990), is a series of b/w studies of African American family interacting at a kitchen table, under a single stark kitchen light. What resonated with me was the intimacy and honesty of these works, which examine domestic, gender and identity issues.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately: I’ve been re-visiting PJ Harvey’s Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. It moves me beyond words, particularly regarding the tracks featuring Thom Yorke on backing vocals. First ever piece of music or art or gig that really moved you: The Bob Marley concert at Dalymount Park, Dublin, in 1980. It was an afternoon open-air concert, and we were up near the stage, almost close enough to touch him. Best recent holiday or weekend break: France, January. I was up in the Pyrenees with my camcorder and camera and feeling free and creative.

Your best celebrity encounter: Patti Smith at Cork by Southwest a few years ago.

Best animal encounter: My fave pet is Luidin, my dog, who is getting a bit doddery, but she’s with me most of the time and she’s a small, quiet dog with huge attitude.

Most expensive item of clothing you’ve ever bought: My Vivienne Westwood coat, which I bought second-hand on Ebay a few years ago. It was €350.

Tech habits: I loved my Samsung Galaxy S4, until it crashed recently. Good camera. Weekend treat: I wish there were more parties, and I still miss the Sweat at Sir Henry’s in Cork, but I like dancing, good music, fun, a few drinks. Sometimes, I like to head to the sea for walks with Luidin. Health and fitness: I avoid dairy and gluten. I hardly eat meat. The thought of jogging and fitness regimes fill me with horror. I meditate a bit, but I do move and I exercise a bit at home, with music on.

Unsung heroes: Too many to name, but any organisation which takes care of the vulnerable; whether children, animals, elderly, special needs, hunger or injustice.

You are queen for a day — what’s your first decree? Ban the news. It seems to contribute to the cause paranoia and depression in society.