Oisín McKenna
Writer and artist, working in fiction, performance, and video.
Oisín McKenna's award-winning work blends the personal and political, offering acutely observed, emotionally intricate portraits of contemporary lives and the wider political conditions that shape them. They tell stories which seem small but through which a wider architecture of the world can be seen, exploring how people emotionally and psychologically respond to the historical moment they’re living through. They've been funded by both Arts Council England and Arts Council Ireland and have made work for a wide range of contexts, performing in both theatres and gallery spaces, while also working with major commercial publishers. Their first novel has been published by HarperCollins in the UK and US, and have written for outlets such as GQ, Evening Standard, Irish Times and more. They have received commissions from BBC, ICA, DAZED, Hackney Showroom, The Abbey Theatre, Dublin Fringe Festival, and more, and have been described in the Irish Times as one of Ireland’s best performance poets.
Whilst in residence at Somerset House Studios, Oisín will work on their second novel, part soap opera, part social history, the novel explores intergenerational trauma and mental illness among several generations of Irish diaspora in Hackney. Stylistically and thematically bold, vivid and lyrically rich, they intend for the novel to have a big heart, wildly experimental impulses, and sharp political teeth.