Two Cork artists receive first of LHQ Impact Awards

Cork County Council’s Arts and Library Service has announced two artists as the recipients of the inaugural LHQ Impact Award.

Basil Al-Rawi and Stephen Brandes will both receive an award designed to support established visual artists. The award provides the artists with a financial bursary and the opportunity for a solo exhibition at LHQ Gallery, Cork County Council’s dedicated exhibition space.

Stephen Brandes moved from England to Ireland in 1993, and he now lives and works in Cork. His work explores the interplay of word and visual language as a vehicle for storytelling, with particular reference to travel fiction, absurdism and satire. He will exhibit at LHQ Gallery in the summer of 2026.

Skiapod

Mr Brandes said: “It’s a little known story, but in the summer of 1631, a skiapod washed up on the shores of Co Cork, into a little cove at Ballymaccus, a stone’s throw south of what is now the Kinsale Hotel and Spa. Skiapods, deriving from the Greek for ‘shadow-foot’, have continually appeared and disappeared in numerous cultures and folklore traditions.

“They are commonly described or depicted as figures with a single obnoxious large foot. The LHQ Impact Award will support the creation of a new and separate sculptural installation, which re-imagines the scarcely credible event in Irish history.”

Basil Al-Rawi is an Irish-Iraqi multidisciplinary artist living in Cork working primarily with photography, moving image, and simulation. His work explores memory, identity, politics, and mediated reality. He will show at LHQ Gallery during 2027.

Exploring

Mr Al-Rawi said: “With the LHQ Impact Award, I’ll be developing a new body of sculptural and moving image works exploring extraction, memory, and cartography. I’m very grateful for this support to allow me to push the material and conceptual dimensions of my work in new directions.”

Mayor of the County of Cork Mary Linehan Foley said: “We are delighted to see two of County Cork’s esteemed artists granted the LHQ Impact Award. There was great interest in this opportunity which demonstrates the level of talent and creativity in our county. I look forward to seeing both exhibitions at the LHQ Gallery.”