CCA Derry~Londonderry | Audio

Welcome to the latest Roundtable Podcast from CCA Derry~Londonderry.
We bring together artists to talk about their work and experiences.In this episode, three painters, Susan Connolly, Ciarraí MacCormac and Yasmine Robinson came together in February 2026 to have a conversation about their practices. The artists shared their routes to art, approaches to paint, colour and what it is to be a woman working with abstraction in NI today.
You can find out more about the speakers and CCA at ⁠⁠⁠CCADLD.org⁠⁠⁠ and at the following:
Susan Connolly | ⁠susanconnolly.com
Ciarraí MacCormac | ciarraimaccormac.com
Yasmin Robinson | yasminerobinsonart.com
Smiling Sweating & Resisting | ccadld.org/exhibitions/smiling-sweating-and-resisting
Dura | ccadld.org/exhibitions/dura
Glimmers | ccadld.org/exhibitions/glimmers
~~~
With thanks to:
CCA Derry~Londonderry
Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Derry City & Strabane District Council
Garfield Weston Foundation

Recorded in July 2025, this Roundtable brings together speakers to discuss their practices, approaches and interests.
Artist and CCA Research Associate Marie Farrington invited Megan Macedo and Róisín O Meadhra to join her in this podcast through their shared interests in geology, land, memory and connection and their different ways of looking at the past through the lens of today. They discuss their practices - Megan Macedo as a writer and facilitator and Róisín O Meadhra as an archaeology artefact illustrator - and their collaborations with Diagonal Acts, a multi-platform project created by Marie Farrington exploring many of these themes and more.
You can find out more about the speakers and CCA at ⁠⁠⁠CCADLD.org⁠⁠⁠ and at the following:
Marie Farrington | ⁠mariefarrington.com
Megan Macedo | meganmacedo.com
Róisín O Meadhra | roisinomeadhra.com
Diagonal Acts | diagonalacts.com
Strata | CCADLD.org/exhibitions/strata

With thanks to:
CCA Derry~Londonderry
Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Derry City & Strabane District Council
Garfield Weston Foundation
Jerwood Foundation
Arts Council Ireland
Culture Ireland
Wicklow County Arts Office

An audio description by Soso Ní Cheallaigh

“De mo neamhthoil a thánaig an crith orm”

“How does it feel to never truly be still?”

Part of Bounce Festival 2024 at CCA Derry~Londonderry on 5 October 2024 where Soso performed in CCA's Project Space amidst their installation.

Responding to the essential tremor and involuntary contractions that convulse through their own body, this work is part of Soso Ní Cheallaigh’s ongoing study on the chaos and disorder of their rare nervous system conditions. This new site specific work combines video installation with live intervention to explore self-documentation, bodily isolation, and our inherent human need to understand ourselves.

De mo neamhthoil was supported in part by the European Dancehouse Network Carte Blanche Travel Award.

Proud part of the Bounce Arts Festival 2024.

About Soso Ní Cheallaigh

Soso Ní Cheallaigh (they/them) is a disability-led multidisciplinary maker from Derry. Their work spans poetry, essay, theatre, visual art, and film through both the English and Irish language. Recent credits include Burkitt (TG4/Little Ease Films), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lyric Theatre), and SHIFT (DU Dance & Southpaw Dance Company). A graduate of Seamus Heaney Centre and Inclusive Dance Cork, Soso was a previous recipient of University of Atypical’s DDASF award, Arts Council of Northern Ireland funding, and a Theatre and Dance NI INVEST artist for 2024.
ohbysoso.com

About Bounce Festival

Bounce Arts Festival 4–6 October 2024 - This is a festival created by and for disabled, d/Deaf and neurodivergent people through the University of Atypical. This year it is taking place over three days in Belfast, Derry~Londonderry and Limavady. Transcending barriers, celebrating ability and disability; disturbing myths and illuminating the creative practice of disabled artists on a professional platform: Bounce is our showcase where every aspect of diverse identity is celebrated. All are welcome.
universityofatypical.org/bounce

Supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Derry City & Strabane District Council, University of ATypical, European Dancehouse Network Carte Blanche Travel Award.

Niamh Seana Meehan

Dreamers, 2024
Audio Recording, 8 mins 10 sec

Part of the Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival 2024 and National Drawing Day 2024.

This year CCA invites artist Niamh Seana Meehan to design an activity for NIMHAF 10–19 May 2024 and National Drawing Day 18 May 2024.

In Dreamers Niamh invites you to listen, float, and linger with an audio coastal walk. Walking along edges of liquid space this audio will explore moments to find stillness, to feel how our skin touches seawater and how we can reimagine the desire path. A desire path is a path created by animal traffic, or a path taken as a short-cut. For this coastal walk the desire path will present listeners with the space to reimagine what they desire to find on their own coastal path.

Listen to the audio, pausing to draw or write anything that comes to mind. Alternatively you can listen to the full audio, then begin to draw what you feel, think or imagined as you were listening. You are also welcome to sit comfortably and listen to the audio.

Suggested materials are pens, pencils, colouring pencils or whatever you have to hand or prefer to draw with. You can collect materials from CCA, 10-12 Artillery Street, Derry~Londonderry, BT48 6RG from 10 May 2024.

You can download or listen online to this specially created audio with intentional pauses to give you space to reflect, draw or write. Headphones are preferred. You can tag your drawings with @CCADLD, @nimhaf, #NationalDrawingDay

Read more about the work at: ccadld.org/public-programme/dreamers-an-activity-for-nimhaf-and-national-drawing-day

And visit the artist's instagram at: @niamhseanameehan

This project was supported by:

CCA Derry~Londonderry

Arts Council England

Arts Council of Northern Ireland

Derry City & Strabane District Council

Northern Ireland Mental Health Festival

CCA Introducing continues with a takeover by R Talitha Samuel, an independent cultural producer and editor based in New Delhi, India. R's takeover, entitled Samuel, meaning 'God Has Heard', takes place on CCA's Instagram and Spotify on Sunday 24 March 2024.

Below, you can find a description of the takeover:

'I had a totally different plan in mind for this visual and audio project when I initially started out. However, just before I was all set to hit record, my grandfather got very sick and passed away. This was during the month of December 2023, and it naturally changed the course of not only my life and understanding of myself but also of this work. I wanted to explore why I do what I do in terms of my approach to audio as a medium, mediated through the literal voices of members of my community and my family. Now, my takeover, Samuel, meaning 'God Has Heard', composed of audio recordings, old Tamil hymns and voice notes will dive into the warp and weft of grief, collective prayer, sound as infrastructure, recording as witness and what it means to be a man.'

CCA Introducing is made possible thanks to Art Fund, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Derry City & Strabane District Council.