Out of the Ordinary

Out of the Ordinary is a collection of critical and reflective essays written in close dialogue with a body of artworks rooted in everyday life and found materials. These works emerged during the pandemic and in the years that followed, a time when making shifted closer to the ground, to the hand, and to what was immediately present in the surrounding environment.

The artworks discussed here were created in and around the countryside of Donegal, where landscape, weather, language, and rhythm shape daily experience. Ordinary objects, gathered materials, and overlooked fragments become carriers of memory and meaning. Nature is not treated as a backdrop but as a living presence, closely entwined with Gaelic culture, Irish ways of seeing, and a deep sense of place.

The essays approach these works slowly and attentively. They are not written to explain or conclude, but to stay with the artworks as they unfold. Each text reflects an engagement that took place over time, often digitally, through images, conversations, and sustained looking. Writing became a way of responding, exchanging, and remaining connected to the work when physical proximity was limited.

Rather than presenting fixed interpretations, the essays move between observation, context, and personal resonance. They consider how ordinary materials hold traces of labour, silence, resilience, and belonging, especially within the shared experience of isolation and reorientation during pandemic and post pandemic life.

This publication space brings those individual writings together as an evolving archive. The essays are listed below and will continue to grow over time, with each title linking directly to its full text.

Selected essays include:

• Chronology 
  
  
• Echoes of Mother Earth
  
  
• Ian Joyce: Marking Identity and Humanity
  
  
• Bridging Two Worlds Through Art: The Work of Ian Joyce
  
  
• Burnt Echoes: A Resilient Melody
  
  
• Light Spine
  
  
• Feathered Frailty: A Symphony of Life Uninsured
  
  
• Sculpting Harmony 
  
  
• Beneath the Tinsel – Identity and Power in Ian Joyce’s Work

All essays are written by Ammara Arshad, who also curates this website. Further texts will be added as new engagements take shape, allowing this collection to remain open, responsive, and ongoing.