Photographic prints on Monomer film, dimensions vary from 122 x 122 cm to 367 x 367 cm

78 text plaques, 42 x 29.7 cm

not sorry is the first chapter in Nanigian's national tour just a bit extraordinary. This body of work is an intimate portrait of the Irish teenager and young adult. At a time when almost everything is on display, unrestricted disclosure is the norm and social networking profiles are updated daily on Facebook, not sorry literally goes behind closed doors into the private territory of the bedroom to expose the genuine individual beneath the public persona. Taking its title from one of the responses to a confidential survey, the body of work combines the personal expression evident on the walls, floors and other surfaces of the bedroom with participants’ frank, and sometimes, brutally honest written expression of their personal identity. not sorry celebrates the complexities of youth and explores how outward signs – be they adornments to one’s habitat or to one’s self – can both corroborate and contradict inner character.

not sorry was first installed in the Draiocht (Dublin), and then especially remade for Highlanes Gallery (Drogheda). Mirroring the wallpaper, posters, magazine cutouts and handwritten messages often plastered on teenagers’ bedroom walls, the photographic images were printed in two forms; the first life size and literally pasted to the gallery walls, and the second in single six foot square panels. Nanigian’s growing collection of young people’s candid survey responses accompanied the prints, providing a heartfelt voiceover to the interior imagery.

The just a bit extraordinary tour is comprised of three chapters in which the artist has chosen an equal number of idiosyncratic groups, loosely aligned to a particular stage in psychosocial development, to serve as her muse in exploring the expression of identity across the lifespan. just a bit extraordinary is curated by Aoife Ruane, Director of the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda. Later chapters of the tour received a Touring Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and are sponsored by Drogheda Credit Union.
 

Installation photography by Eugene Langan.