DABF24 Talk | the grain of things

Join Ingrid Lyons and visual artists Liliane Puthod and Ella Bertilsson as they discuss the place of storytelling and the embodiment of fiction in their practice. As they reminisce with good stories, they explore how people share anecdotes for all sorts of reasons; to make each other laugh, to process life experiences, to reminisce. They explore how storytelling helps us find common ground, connects us with with universal tropes and creates a collective consciousness.

The three speakers find common ground in the distillation of personal experience and weaving of narrative threads through their use of materials, symbolic analogy and mise en scène, and how these sensibilities are used to build of fictional worlds. Through this distillation and fictionalisation in their creative practices, they take fragments of life, thoughts, dreams, and desires to communicate a vision and mediate with the world of otherness through storytelling. Maybe you’ll be moved to share your favourite ice-breaker.

An art and visual culture specialist, Ingrid Lyons writes for several leading art journals in Ireland as well as galleries, art institutions and artists. Through her fiddle playing, she uncovers the rich heritage of Irish creativity, poetry and oral storytelling, while remaining close to the exceptional fiddle players who have personally mentored her.

Liliane Puthod works with sculpture, installation, drawings and site-specific interventions to investigate the archaeology of everyday consumables buried within commodified gestures, trades and times. She has just completed a major solo work, Beep Beep as part of Longest Way Round, Shortest Way Home, commissioned by Temple Bar Gallery + Studios for Dublin Port and supported by The Arts Council Project Award.

Ella Bertilsson’s practice combines elements of sculpture, video, performance, drawing, painting, and sound into staged installations, as a form of enquiry into bizarre and quotidian experiences and events that shape our character and define our identity. Selected solo exhibitions include: The Horse, Dublin (2025); Ballina Art Centre, Mayo (2024); The Dock, Leitrim (2023-24); and The Complex, Dublin (2022).

This event is part of the extended programme of Dublin Art Book Fair (DABF). A centre for contemporary artist books, DABF offers unique artist publications and titles from creative, small and independent publishers, both Irish and international.

DABF24 is proudly sponsored by Henry J Lyons and supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.

Host or Publisher Temple Bar Gallery + Studios