"To read something is to imagine and to imagine is the possibility to make real…this is the power of the human imagination…" - John Connolly

‘‘a dreamers dream’ is a two-week solo drawing residency by Niamh Clarke at The Kiosk Space, where the gallery will function as an active studio. Throughout the residency, Niamh will create time-intensive drawings while working from a drawing station set up in the space. Literature plays a significant role in Niamh’s practice, and a small reading room will be installed in the gallery, featuring a selection of much-loved books, references, and sources of inspiration that have long informed and continue to shape her practice.

This residency stems from an ongoing collaboration between Niamh Clarke and John Connolly, inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ short story The Circular Ruins. Drawing from literature and poetry, the project explores themes of the shadow self, etymology, cosmology, dreaming, and solitude. Both artists have responded to these ideas through a series of small journals, which will be exhibited in the gallery. The drawings developed during the residency act as Niamh’s response to the collaboration and to John’s journal.

Visitors are encouraged to drop in, chat with Niamh, browse the reading room, and perhaps exchange book recommendations.

The exhibition is open to visitors on Wednesday 3 June, Saturday 6 June, Sunday 7 June, Thursday 11 June, Friday 12 June, and Saturday 13 June, from 12–3pm each day.

The residency will conclude with a pop-up installation on the final day, Sunday 14 June from 3pm-5pm.

‘a dreamers dream’ also marks the beginning of an ongoing dialogue between the two artists, with John Connolly undertaking a residency at The Kiosk Space next year in response to the project.

Niamh Clarke is a BA (Hons) Fine Art graduate from Ulster University 2019 and is based at QSS studios Belfast. She is a co-founder and member of the collaborative drawing group The Drawing Journal. Recent group exhibitions include: ‘In Living Memory’, Household, Belfast (2025), ‘lucent’ a touring group exhibition, which travelled to Uillin, West Cork (2023), Highlanes, Drogheda (2024) Wexford Arts Centre (2024) and The Levinsky gallery Plymouth (2025), and ‘Ode to Light’ Arcade Gallery Belfast (2023). Solo exhibitions include: , ‘Territories’ Courthouse Gallery Clare (2026), ‘Interiorities’ Custom house Studios, Westport (2025),‘the transient and the perishing’ Platform Gallery, Belfast (2021).

Clarke’s drawing practice reflects an interest in memory and temporality. Exploring the relationship between photography and drawing, a focus is placed on the embodied presence of gesture and materialisation through re-description of found and personal photographs. Containing personal narratives and references that draw inspiration from archival materials, the drawings embrace subconsciousness and stream of consciousness, embodied practice and materiality. Images are selected intuitively to create an implied narrative.