Anindya Sen in Conversation with Curator of October Gallery, Dee Haughney
Dee Haughney was born in Ireland. She studied Photography at Technological University Dublin, Curatorial Practice at Falmouth University and Asian Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She worked with the Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland, Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall, and The Photographer’s Gallery, London, before joining October Gallery in 2012. As Curator of October Gallery, she has managed exhibitions, international art fairs and outdoor exhibitions and installations for the past five years. Outside of her job, she works as an Independent Curator with artists from Ireland and around the world. Anindya Sen speaks to Dee about her career, her epic cycling trip from Cairo to Cape Town and the challenges of mounting her current exhibition of Alexis Peskine’s Fire Figures.
Anindya Sen: Can you tell us a bit about your interest in non-western art, why you chose to be a curator, and how you got your break at the October Gallery?
Dee Haughney: My mother spent a couple of years in Zambia, so we had a lot of cultural objects and paintings in the house from Southern Africa. It was part of my visual landscape growing up even though I did not realise it then.
While doing my BA in Photography at TU Dublin, we had a curatorial module with the amazing Irish curator Valerie Connor, and I also helped curate the graduate exhibition. At that point I realised that I didn’t want to be an artist, instead I wanted to be someone that was bringing artists together, creating dialogues and making a contribution in a broader sense to the arts scene. I went and studied my MA in Curatorial Practice at Falmouth University. Afterwards I was lucky to get a job at the Photographer’s Gallery in London and it was while I was working there that I reconnected with Amarachi Okafor, who I had studied with at Falmouth. Amarachi, an artist in her own right but who had also worked with the great artist El Anatsui in his studio, was doing an internship at the October Gallery at that time. She rang me and said, “You really need to come visit this gallery!” It was one of those situations where the stars align. I immediately connected with the outlook of the gallery, applied and received a gallery assistant position there, progressing to Assistant Curator within my first year.
October Gallery booth at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, 2019. (Copyright: Brittany Buongiorno)
AS: You also studied at our very own Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London, in 2015. How did that happen? Can you tell us about your career journey at the gallery since then?
DH: In my curatorial role, I realised that I lacked knowledge about contemporary art from certain parts of Asia. So, I furthered my education at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and studied Contemporary Chinese Art and the Market, led by Dr. Katie Hill. Katie is someone who has vast intellectual input as well as real-world experience. That course was incredible for me and really influenced me. I was still working at October Gallery very closely with our Artistic Director, Elisabeth Lalouschek and was later promoted to Curator.
AS: You’ve been with October Gallery since 2012; what appeals to you about the place as an art gallery and as a place to work?
DH: When you walk into the gallery, you realise it’s something different. It is a place where dialogues are happening from all over the world and the friendly atmosphere and energy are instantly palpable. There are people coming to do research and they have conversations with the artists and with us. I feel very lucky to be part of it and immersed in it. We also have a very large education department in the gallery as we feel that without really knowing about the history of art outside the western canon, students cannot really immerse themselves in it.
Opening of James Barnor and Daniele Tamagni, 2016 at October Gallery, London. (Copyright: Jonathan Greet)
AS: As a curator, what do you look for in an artist and their practice?
DH: I think it is always a hard thing to describe, but initially it is what I call a “visual hit.” It’s when I see something and I have that little “Wow!” moment. Then it derives from exploring more about the artist and their work, looking for depth and whether the work has real substance. Does it comment on the world, on life, on cultural heritage…? Does it have that narrative? It’s ambiguous and open-ended, but that is what we always try to find.
Dee Haughney speaking at Trapholt, Kolding, Denmark. 2016 (Copyright: René Mastrup)
AS: Tell us about the current Alexis Peskine exhibition Fire Figures? How has the experience been in terms of genesis and development and how did you have to adapt to make the exhibition happen given the extraordinary disruptions in 2020?
DH: Alexis is an artist from Paris, he is what I would call an artist of the world. For me, he embodies what curator Claire Doherty refers to as “from studio to situations.” He goes all over the world to create his art and he works with the people that are around him in the present time and place. In the 2020 exhibition, Alexis comments on the fires of injustice that he has felt throughout his life as a black male in Paris, and the need for a fire of change to happen wherein everything is torn down and rebuilt. From the gallery’s perspective, we didn’t want to postpone such an exhibition to another year – it had to happen last year when there was all this energy, and real fire happening. We really did everything to make it happen and we were thrilled to make it a reality.
Installation shot of 'Alexis Peskine: Fire Figures' at October Gallery, 2020. (Photographer: Andy Keate. Courtesy of the Artist and October Gallery, London)
We had begun planning for this show in 2019, and in March 2020, like everyone, Alexis was feeling overwhelmed by what was happening at that time in the world. Our Artistic Director saw the importance of making this happen and encouraged him and supported him. Artists are always the figures to come forward when crises happen, and they have a vital role in commenting on the world around us. Alexis, along with his assistants, continued to create works in his Paris studio and we proceeded with our plans though we were unsure in what form it would happen.
By September, things started to open up in London and with October being the UK’s Black History Month, coupled with the opening of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, it turned out to be an ideal time to open the exhibition. We did not have the style of opening that we normally would. Instead, we organised specific timed slots for visitors to attend and recorded the show so that people could visit virtually as well. We had to build new ways of engaging audiences and one of those was a talk with Alexis hosted by Culture Trip online. I think we were able to meet the challenges that the year brought by embracing the opportunities that came with it. Fire Figures has been really well received!
Alexis Peskine, A Seat at the Stolen Table: Intaba Evutha Umlilo, 2020. Gold leaf, nails, coffee, earth and red hibiscus on lumber core wood, 136 x 460 cm. (Photographer: Andy Keate. Courtesy of the Artist and October Gallery, London)
AS: The western art market still remains largely white, male dominated, elitist and inaccessible to a wider global audience. What are your thoughts on how to make it more diverse and accessible?
DH: Sadly, it is an issue that is not just affecting the art world but across the board. However, I think in the last year there has been a real impetus for change. Recently, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has hired Kanitra Fletcher as its first Curator of African American Art, and the Guggenheim in New York just named Naomi Beckwith as Deputy Director and Chief Curator. The key roles at top institutions must become more diverse and then in turn it will filter all the way down. Secondly, until we are teaching a more expansive arts curriculum in schools, we cannot make that change happen. Take for example, arts education about the 1960s – Pop Art and Minimalism get more than their fair share of attention, but what about the Khartoum School from Sudan or the Oshogbo School from Nigeria? Until students are learning about them as well, they are only ever going to want to see Warhol and not Ibrahim El- Salahi. That’s the other change that needs to happen.
Guests at OG Late x El Anatsui, March 2019, October Gallery, London.
(Credit: Sarah Durham)
AS: I have to ask you about your once-in-a-lifetime cycling journey that you undertook from Cairo to Cape Town in 2018! What was the inspiration and what is your most cherished memory from the trip?
DH: The inspiration came from wanting to explore the African continent. I was working with so many artists based in the continent or from the diaspora that I knew I needed some firsthand experience and knowledge. It was a personal research trip where I did not want to travel to some place for two weeks and fly out feeling that I had experienced it - I wanted something more profound. Cycling really opens you to so many amazing experiences. You are vulnerable but that is the beauty - you need help a lot, [whether it be] water or directions and that’s when you meet so many amazing people. I found a route from Cairo all the way down to Cape Town, which excited me because I could then experience the breadth of this hugely diverse continent.
Along the way I wanted to meet artists, visit institutions and make connections I was not able to make in the same way online. I was lucky to be given the opportunity by the October Gallery to take a sabbatical in 2018 as it took about eight to nine months to complete!
Rashid Diab Arts Centre – An oasis in the desert (Courtesy of Dee Haughney)
The most cherished memory was visiting Rashid Diab’s Arts Centre in Khartoum. Sudan was still under Sharia law, so art and self-expression were not part of life. But Rashid Diab is this incredible artist, a legacy of the Khartoum School, who came back and set up this space with assistance from the UN. In a city where you could not otherwise see any visual form of self-expression, you walked into this huge space that had artist studios, a printing workshop, a beautiful garden, a stage for speaking and rooms where artists could stay and work. That was my most special memory – to meet him, see what he is doing and see how art has the capacity to bring change. A year later, the world saw how art really influenced the Sudanese uprising in 2019.
Rashid Diab and Dee Haughney at the Rashid Diab Arts Centre, Khartoum, February 2018 (Courtesy of Dee Haughney)
AS: As a Sotheby’s Institute alumna, what advice would you give to students who are aiming to enter the art world?
DH: The art world has always been so competitive so my advice would be to create your own space where your voice can be heard. In my early days before I was curating professionally, I started a collective in Dublin with friends - we called ourselves Guerilla Exhibition. We just got out there and posted photographs on abandoned buildings and bridges, creating a space for artists to show and conversations to happen. When I was in Cornwall, I got to run the collective Untitled, in a similar way we ran exhibitions, talks and events. I started a subsidiary of it when I came to London. We were creative and did things with zero budget. For example, Camden Council gave us an unused shop space on the high street and I curated an exhibition with many artists, which gained press coverage and footfalls. So, I would say do not put all of your voice and energy into your CV; make sure it is heard in other ways. Start a blog; start interacting with the artists and galleries you are passionate about on social media. That’s my biggest advice – do not wait for someone else to hear your voice, shout it yourself and make your own space.
Thank You, Dee.
Stay up-to-date with Dee Haughney’s art world journey by visiting her website.
Anindya Sen
Contributor, MADE IN BED