Alanna Johnson

What could our memories tell that our mouths wouldn't?

Last Orders is an installation built around the evocations of a dead man and the innermost thought and emotion that accompanies these memories, simulating a dive into the misogynistic culture that shaped his adult life. Set in his wake, the work explores the identity of the Irish man and how oft encouraged vices, such as drinking, gambling and disdain towards women, expose a soft white underbelly of desolation and emotional distance from others.

Inspired by my time working in pubs throughout the years, I've sought to explore the normalisation of misogynistic behaviour in these settings, and in Ireland as a whole.

In specific, I wanted to uncover the ever blurring lines between humour and misery that plague these spaces and how they echo and subconsciously develop a much deeper issue in the minds and lives of the men who partake.