When art and literature collide to create something new

Recent Crawford graduate Billy Dante is one of two Cork artists representing Ireland at a major festival showcasing new talent in Amsterdam, writes Alan O’Riordan

THE Elia New Now Festival opens in its new permanent home in Amsterdam next Tuesday, showcasing the best of new artistic talent emerging from the academies and arts schools of Europe. The lineup for 2015 features the work of two recent graduates of the CIT Crawford College of Art: Billy Dante and Brian Mac Domhnaill.

Mac Domhnaill’s selection is entitled Catafalque. In an unsettling collection of photographs, the artist takes as his subject the places where human remains rest prior to burial or disposal. Locations including a funeral home, a crematorium, a crypt viewing box, a morgue and a family home; are all shot with a haunting sensitivity.