Free Space: Day Magee, 'Sermon of the Body Only'

Sermon of the Body Only explores the soft power of ideology in shaping individual lives and societal structures. In a newly commissioned sermon and pamphlet, through speech, text, sound and visuals, Day Magee investigates how belief systems—particularly religion—guide our understanding of the world and dictate our behaviours. Ideology is very effective at normalising certain beliefs and practices, making them seem natural or self-evident. As individuals internalise these ideas (or ‘ideals’), they enact the cultural and social norms of their immediate surroundings. This results in real, tangible effects on how they treat themselves, interact with others, and shape the wider organisation of society. In this way, though ideology itself is abstract, it has significant material consequences.

Reared in a fundamentalist, Evangelical family, this sermon traces Magee’s journey of faith as a queer non-binary person in Ireland. The work draws heavily from Evangelical Protestant aesthetics, emphasising minimalism, functionality, and a rejection of excess;, reflecting a focus on spiritual and moral discipline. Many Evangelical congregations convene in ad hoc spaces, such as rented conference rooms, rather than in permanent, ornate buildings like Catholic churches, further emphasising function over form and a focus on the transient and communal aspects of congregation. This sermon explores the use of cultural spaces as a one such setting, blurring the lines between religion and art. The iteration at Studio 6, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios is the first trial of this sermon, with sights on a larger public congregation in 2025.

Sermon of the Body Only does not offer ideological advice or alternatives but invites visitors to reflect on the beliefs they hold and how those beliefs have shaped their identity and actions. Through a personal and introspective approach, Magee and Muthi encourage a critical exploration of how ideology is reproduced through our bodies and lives.

This event is supported by Free Space at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. Free Space creates opportunities for artists to access space in the city for peer learning, artist exchanges, project development and presentations.

Day Magee is an artist, performer, and writer based in Dublin. Exploring the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and the intersections of queerness, illness , and religiosity, their work engages phenomenology as an enactive creative material via performance-centred multimedia and workshops. Their work has been commissioned by and appeared in TULCA Festival (2019); Arts & Disability Ireland (2021); Pallas Projects/Studios (2022); Limerick City Gallery of Art (2022); 126 Gallery (2023); Rua Red (2023); the Hugh Lane Gallery (2023) and Mirror Lamp Press (2024). Their transdisciplinary practice is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

Sara Damaris Muthi is an Irish-Romanian curator and writer. She is currently the Curatorial Fellow at IMMA and curator of visual art at Brown Mountain Diamond, an artist-run art space in deep rural Ireland. Her recent research practice explores the intersections of Evangelicalism and Western visual culture. Sara is the recipient of Black Church Print Studio Emerging Curator Award 2022 and Pallas Projects Studios / PVA Writer Award 2023. Recent exhibitions include Redux: Contemporary Irish sculptors at Venice, IMMA (2024); Material parables, Draíocht (2023); Hot glue, The Complex; Platform Arts (2022); .pptx, Void, Derry, (2021) and Post-Dance, Project Arts Centre (2019).

Host or Publisher Temple Bar Gallery + Studios