Queer History Researcher / Writer / Artist

Han Tiernan (they/she) is a researcher, producer, writer, and artist based in Dublin, Ireland. Their key area of interest is contemporary Irish LGBTQ+ history and expanding voices within the Irish LGBTQ+ community.

Most recently, Han co-produced the Unshrinking Violets: 50 Years of Lesbian Activism programme with artist Francis Fay for the Age and Opportunity Bealtaine Festival 2023. As well as a discussion day and film screening, the programme included an exhibition of lesbian activism on which they were the lead researcher with research support from Dr Ger Moane and Cara Holmes.

Since 2022, Han has coordinated the REWIND<<FASTFOWARD>>RECORD (RFR) initiative, an expansive series of talks, tours and workshops to develop creative responses exploring Irish queer history and contemporary queer representation in a local context. The initiative has taken the form of a touring programme, including a cumulative exhibition of participants’ work. The project has been developed in partnership with artist and curator Brendan Fox and the Museum of Everyone. It is supported by The Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride, Queer Culture Ireland and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).

Since September 2021, Han has been the Editorial Assistant with GCN (Gay Community News) Magazine, a not-for-profit, free print and online publication which has supported, recorded and served the Irish LGBTQIA+ community for over thirty years. They have also been appointed as the in-house archivist to oversee the digitisation of GCN’s archive.

In April 2021, they were appointed Queer Programme Coordinator with the Museum of Everyone, an inclusive portable platform for artists and creatives that aims to amplify a diverse range of voices and perspectives through both artist and community-led collaborative initiatives.

From September 2020 until May 2021, Han researched and edited the Queer-in-Progress. Timeline: Online Archive, an initiative to map the expanded narratives within the canon of Irish queer history, focusing on lesbian, feminist, female-identifying, trans, bi and HIV/AIDS histories.

From 2018 to 2020, they were a researcher on the ACTIVE ARCHIVE - SLOW INSTITUTION initiative with Project Arts Centre and were the lead researcher for the Queer-in-Progress. Timeline display in March 2020.

In 2019 they authored ‘Foul, Filthy, Stinking Muck’: the LGBT theatre of Project Arts Centre, 1966 - 2000, and curated and hosted the ‘Foul, Filthy, Stinking Muck’ symposium. Han is also the creator of the Ranelagh/Rathmines Queer Walking Tour, designed in conjunction with Ranelagh Arts. 

As a visual artist, they have exhibited their photography and sculpture throughout Ireland and have several works housed in private collections. In 2016, they were awarded the Inspirational Arts Award for their photographic project, EQUAL. The project was a direct response to Ireland’s 2015 Marriage referendum, reflecting the societal shift post-referendum whilst also acknowledging the scars still felt within the LGBTQ+ community.

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • 2019 - MFA in Art in the Contemporary World - NCAD (National College of Art and Design)

  • 2016 - BA in Photographic Media - Griffith College Dublin

  • 2013 - Certificate in Visual Art Practice - NCAD

SYMPOSIUMS/CONFERENCES/PANELS:

2021

  • LGBTQ+ Artistic and Activist Tools for Social Change - ShoutOut and Queer Culture Ireland - IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art)

  • The Quilt: Echoes and Memories - Queer Culture Ireland - EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

  • Then and Now: Know Your Queer History - ShoutOut and Queer Culture Ireland - IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art)

  • From Christopher Street to Fairview Park: The Stonewall Rebellion and ‘Ireland’s Stonewall’ - EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

  • Aftereffects and Untold Histories, Politics and Spaces of Performance since the 1990s - NCAD (National College of Art and Design)

  • Transforming Archives: Intersectional Feminist Approaches to the Practice and Reading of Archives hosted by the IFTe (Intersections | Feminism, Technology & Digital Humanities) - Maynooth University & Technological University of Dublin

2019:

  • “Foul, Filthy, Stinking Muck”: an archival study into the LGBT theatre of Project Arts Centre 1967-2000 - (symposium) - 4th June - Project Arts Centre, Dublin

 
 

EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS:

2022:

2021:

  • Queer-in-Progress. Timeline (digital archive - co-editor) - Ongoing - online at ProjectArtsCentre.ie

2020:

  • ArtHouse - 11th - 21st November - online at OutHouse

  • Queer Walking Tour - 26th/27th September - Ranelagh Arts Festival, Dublin

  • Queer-in-Progress. Timeline - 6th March - Project Arts Centre, Dublin

2019:

  • Queeratorial - 14th June - Pallas Projects, Dublin

  • Active Archive/Slow Institution: The Long Goodbye - 31st January - Project Arts Centre, Dublin

2018:

  • The Inexquisite Corpse - (Publication Launch) - 31st May - Eblana House, Dublin

2017:

  • Expressions Portrait Photography Competition nominees show - 1st July - Town Centre, Longford

  • Expressions 2016 - 23rd March - Gifts of Artemis, Dublin

2016:

  • Expressions Portrait Photography Competition nominees show - 1st October - Backstage Theatre, Longford

  • Inspirational Arts Award Exhibition - 16th September - Inspirational Arts, Dublin

  • Griffith College Graduate Exhibition - 1st June - Griffith College, Dublin

2015:

  • Griffith College Graduate Christmas Exhibition - 17th December - Griffith College, Dublin

2014:

  • Photoworks - 14th May - The Chocolate Factory, Dublin

2013

  • Skin Deep - 12th September - Hendrons Collider, Dublin

AWARDS:

  • 2021 - Recipient of the Arts Participation Project Award 2022 from the Arts Council of Ireland

  • 2017 - Finalist in the Expressions Portrait Photography Competition

  • 2016 - Winner of the Inspirational Arts Award