We are delighted to announce that contemporary dancer and choreographer Tara Brandel and environmental abstract painter Stacey White have been selected for a two-week residency in Tenerife LAV, from May 28th to June 10th 2023.

During their residency, they will be working on UNSEEN, a multidisciplinary performance looking at the notion of things that are invisible but vital parts of an ecosystem: from benevolent microscopic organisms, to hidden disabilities, and the invisibility that a middle-aged same sex couple experiences.

Working with her partner, environmental abstract painter Stacey White, Tara Brandel will create a live performance installation layering video projection, contemporary dance, sound, text, and paintings to make the invisible, present and felt. The work will draw on research into plankton (a life giving microscopic organism that produces 50% of the world's oxygen and absorbs carbon) and the couple’s personal experiences of hidden disabilities (Dyslexia and Epilepsy), and of their sexuality.

Plankton comes from the Greek word meaning drifter or wanderer, as it is carried by currents and tides. This sense of being pulled by the currents, of outside forces and larger forces at play, affect many aspects of this project thematically, from the way larger forces have affected Tara and Stacey's personal relationship in the last 3 years (as it has for many people), to the lack of control that people with epilepsy sometimes experience.

Tara and Stacey have been doing extensive research on plankton 2020-22, and on developing their interdisciplinary collaboration between dance and visual art. In 2023 they have started developing the performance of UNSEEN, to premier in November 2023. Luca Truffarelli is creating video projections for the performance based on the microscopic images of plankton that Stacey has been gathering over the past 3 years. Stacey's abstract paintings of plankton will be installed in the space they perform in, to create a total environment.

Tara and Stacey are keen to work in Tenerife as everywhere that they work they gather local waters and develop microscopic images of plankton from local waters. Currently Stacey has images and paintings based on plankton from waters from many parts of Ireland and California. It would be great to work with the ocean waters around Tenerife to include these images in the show.

Stacey White is a visual artist creating abstract works of unseen worlds. A Northern California artist, Stacey graduated in 1989 with a BA in Art from UCDavis. Influenced by the natural world, historical botanical prints and raw textured surfaces, her paintings present a dialogue between abstraction, botanical and microscopic imagery. She has had six solo shows and numerous group shows in Davis and Sacramento California. Her work is in many private collections. She recently relocated to West Cork.

Find more info on Stacey's work here.