EXHIBITIONS
Belfast Late Night Art, on the first Thursday of every month, is a free night that celebrates arts and culture across the city. The next Late Night Art will be the 7th of May, the night before our festival begins. Several of the galleries participating in our festival will be hosting events, and we encourage everyone to come out and explore the wealth of amazing art in Belfast.
“How are you?” (a Short Film)
Creative Change Makers
8th-15th of May, 24/7
Online
"How are you?" is a short film that follows a group of individuals who say, “I’m fine” but as the story navigates through their daily life, we see the hidden struggles people carry when they mask their feelings. The film highlights the shame and loneliness that can come from bottling things up and how the conversation can change when we find the courage to say “I’m not okay”. In opening the conversation and challenging stigma, there is a ripple effect that shows the power of understanding, empathy, and meaningful connections in finding a sense of hope and belonging.
"It Was Okay"
Conor Barbour
8th-15th of May, 24/7
Online
“It Was Okay” is a short comic following a strange lil
caveman as he goes about his day, and how the mess in
his head reacts to the days events.
Drawn by Conor Barbour, an illustrator and cartoonist
from Belfast who loves drawing weird little guys
(especially if they’re on a bike), pulling from his own
experiences to inform his practice.
ART IS A TRADE
Andrew Cooke
10th - 13th of May, 10.00am - 13.00pm
Moat Park, 11 Church Grn, Belfast BT16 2LP
ART IS A TRADE presents a hands‑on clay workshop and exhibition by ceramic artist and facilitator Andrew Cooke, created for the Mental Health Arts NI Mindset Festival. The workshop invites participants to explore how working with their hands can support mental health, grounding, and emotional wellbeing, with a particular focus on men who often lack safe, practical spaces to express themselves. Through making, conversation, and shared experience, the session encourages slowing down, reconnecting with instinct, and discovering the therapeutic value of tactile, physical work.
Alongside the workshop, an exhibition of Andrew’s sculptures and objects traces his journey from tradesman to ceramic artist and facilitator. The work reflects lived experience, labour, dyslexia, and the realities of navigating the arts sector from a working‑class perspective. Together, the workshop and exhibition highlight creativity as a tool for resilience, identity, and honest connection.
Belonging
Gillian Wright
11th - 22nd of May, 9:30am - 14:30pm Monday through Thursday
Eden Place Arts Centre, Pilots Row Community Centre, Rossville street, Derry, BT48 6LP
Belonging is a solo exhibition of painting, printmaking and ceramics. For Gillian, Belonging is rooted in lived experience, family, community, compassion, and healing. It is found in everyday acts of care and in the support we offer one another, through change, loss and difficulty. Working from observation and then moving into abstraction. What begins as something seen, becomes something felt. This exhibition reflects on safety and kindness. On creating spaces where vulnerability is met with care, and where people feel seen, supported and able to heal together.
Do You Mind if I Draw You?
Margaret Woods Moore
11th - 23rd of May, M-W 10:00am - 17:00pm, Th 13:00am - 20:00pm, F-Sat 10:00am - 16:00pm
Holywood Library, Sullivan Building
86-88 High Street, Holywood BT18 9AE
This exhibition explores my experience of caring for my mother during her journey with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and how drawing helped us remain connected. Throughout her illness I searched for quiet moments and simple subjects to draw, often asking her, “Do you mind if I draw you?” — a question that became the title of the show. She enjoyed being part of the process and would gently critique the finished pieces, creating a shared space between us. Drawing brought a sense of calm during days that could be filled with noise, confusion, and frustration. In those moments, sitting together, talking, and remembering, we found a way to
belong to each other despite the illness changing so much. The drawings are imperfect and were never meant for an audience, but they hold the traces of our time together. After my mother’s death, I realised they reflected not only her story, but my own search for closeness, care, and belonging during a difficult time.
ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION: Building has wheelchair access and lift to the gallery space.
The Disposal of Fullness
Sharon Kelly
2nd May - 23rd June, T-F 11:00am -17:00pm, Sat 11:00am - 16:00pm
Golden Thread Gallery, 23-29 Queen St, Belfast BT1 6EA
New work by Sharon Kelly explores memory, identity and the body through sculpture and installation, using worn clothing and sewing patterns to reflect hidden histories and emotional weight.
ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION: There is level access into the venue and an accessible toilet. Motorised scooters welcome in public parts of the venue. Portable loop hearing assistance system available at the front desk. Ear defenders also available.
The Eclectic Six Exhibition and Launch
The Harrison Hotel
Launches: 7th May 2026, 19:00pm - 21:00pm
1st May - 30th June, 12:00pm - 22:00pm daily
45-51 Malone Road, Belfast, BT9 6RX
This captivating group exhibition brings together six exceptionally talented Northern Irish artists: Niall Conlon, Clinton Fitzpatrick, Louise Lennon, Joel Simon, F. Rabolios, and Trevor McCormick.
The Expulsion from Paradise
Colin McGookin
25th April - 30th June, 9:00am -16:30pm daily
Millennium Court, 5-7 William Street, Portadown, Craigavon, BT62 3NX
For over forty years Colin McGookin has centred his art around conveying traditional mythologies rooted within a Northern Irish perspective. His artwork conveys an ongoing exploration of mythology, identity and the human condition. Millennium Court is delighted to have on display this innovative new exhibition, in which McGookin reimagines the story of Adam and Eve, through a contemporary lens.
After graduating from Belfast College of Art in 1981, Colin first exhibited paintings within the Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin from 1978-1981. He has gone on to have a prolific creative career, extensively exhibiting worldwide. His work has received positive critical acclaim, winning prizes including 1st Prize Claremorris Open. He was elected to the Royal Ulster Academy in 1989 and won the Conor Prize within the same year.
Colin’s latest exhibition, “The Expulsion from Paradise’ takes its inspiration from Masaccio’s fresco painting on the walls of the Brancacci Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. Depicting the biblical connotations of Adam and Eve being expelled out of Paradise into the world that we now inhabit. He takes a modern interpretation to this biblical theme, by including modern day warfare airplanes. By examining our current political landscape, he illustrates how war has led to the human expulsion from paradise. His artwork is embedded with symbolism, on how planes fly over our skies on a daily basis reminder of the destruction that occurs worldwide.
His paintings are created from a various range of mediums including paper, silk and canvas measuring two metres across and sizes varying from small to large pieces. Using symbols and imagery, he engages the viewer to examine closer where the lines between myth and reality align.
For the inspiration behind his artwork Colin states, “It’s about that tension between paradise and the world we actually live in, I’m interested in how we navigate beauty, violence, and the choices that shape our lives.”
We are delighted to have Colin exhibiting his new work from ‘The Expulsion from Paradise’ at the Millennium Court, with the exhibition opening on Saturday 25th April at 2pm. Visitors can expect a thought-provoking journey through paradise, exile, conveying the reality of the world that we inhabit today.
Free Art Project
8th - 15th May
Own an original artwork by Damien Coyle that you’ll find on display in a mystery location. Tell staff you recognise it and it’s yours.
I Belong
David McKinney
Launch: 7th May Opens 18:00-21:00
7th - 15th May, Tues-Sat 11:00am - 17:00pm
Studio Gallery, Belfast Exposed, 23 Donegall Street, Belfast, BT1 2FF
I Belong, in collaboration with Belfast Exposed, is a contemporary photographic exhibition exploring the disconnection David McKinney experienced in the weeks before he became a missing person with suicidal intent. Using a process of “photographic disembodiment,” McKinney holds a detached lens against the camera body to create blurred images where only fragments remain in focus. This visual duality reflects how he felt at the time, physically present yet emotionally hollow, like an outsider looking in on his own home, family and self. As the series unfolds, the photographs gradually regain clarity, mirroring a journey of recovery and the rediscovery of belonging. Through this work, McKinney hopes viewers, particularly those experiencing mental distress, may find reassurance in the possibility of healing, connection, and the simple truth that they too belong in this life.
ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION: Lift and stair access. No loud music or flashing lights.
I built it for you
Clinton Kirkpatrick
Artist Talk: 14th May at 19:00pm
1st - 30th May, W-Sat 12:00pm - 23:00pm , Sunday 13:00pm -19:00pm
Boundary Brewery, Portview Trade Centre, A5, 310 Newtownards Rd, Belfast BT4 1HE
Clinton Kirkpatrick examines the human, absurdity and the systems, or parameters, that we exist and live within. The theme of this year's festival is Belonging and Clinton’s work looks at the world from both individual and collective perspectives.
What does it mean to belong in a family, a community, a culture or a world? Clinton interrogates these notions and presents back an absurd, strange and colourful world that can be odd yet strangely familiar. Characters and situations are created as representations of how the artist experiences the world, where they traverse and communicate through different landscapes.
Clinton presents a collection of paintings, drawings and artworks in Boundary Brewery, at Portview Trade Centre.
Join Clinton for an artist talk on Thursday 14th May 2026, 7pm, at Boundary Brewery, where he will talk about the work on display and how he has experienced Belonging throughout his life.
Membership — being an accepted part of a group or structure.
Bbeyond
8th - 15th May, M-F 9:00-18:00
Belfast School of Art Lobby, Ulster University, York Street, Belfast BT15 1ED
n ‘Membership’ exhibition we exhibit pieces of some of our 50 members work, commenting that on being part of a group or structure it helps in many ways including creating a sense of belonging.
Bbeyond is a Belfast-based performance art organisation committed to expanding the practice and visibility of live, time-based art. Founded by performance artists, it fosters a collaborative community through monthly performance meetings, public interventions, and international exchanges. Bbeyond supports experimental, body-centered work that responds to place, politics, and social encounter, sustaining a vital platform for both emerging and established practitioners across the island of Ireland and beyond.
For details on how to connect to Bbeyond works or apply for membership see details on our website www.bbeyond.live
Our Belongings
Action Mental Health
8th - 31st May, Launch 11:00; M-Fr 9:00-17:00, Sat 9:00-16:00
Enniskillen Library, Halls Lane, Enniskillen
To mark MHANI Mindset Festival 2026, the creative writing group from Action Mental Health Enniskillen have completed a suite of their poetry based around the theme of Belonging.
The Launch and public reading of the poetry takes place at Enniskillen Library 8th of May 11:00. While the poetry exhibition will run throughout the month of May.
Pareidolia
Rachael Johnson
8th - 30th May, M-S 9:30am - 17:00pm
Strule Arts Centre, Townhall square, Omagh BT78 1BL
Rachael Johnson was born in Leeds in 1962 and spent her early years in Enniskillen. She left the Collegiate School in 1980 to study printmaking in Canterbury College of Art and Design and completed her Fine Arts Degree in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1984. Rachael travelled extensively worldwide before returning to Ireland in 1991 to work as an Artist-in-Residence in Dublin. She is currently based in Derry where she is a registered Art Psychotherapist and spends much of her free time painting in her late fathers’ studio in Fermanagh.
"There is something of the bog and shore that haunts: the sweep of fractured scarp and tilted seam of fossiled stone, brackish fern and peat moss, soft rush sward and the slow seep of dank bog pools resonate with archetypal curve and hue, making a familiar of these primal wetlands. Recalled from sensory memory these are inscapes."
ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION: Level entrances with automatic doors. Accessible toilets located on each floor of the building. There is lift access to all floors. Assistance dogs are welcome.
Queer Community and Belonging in Belfast: Community Art Exhibition
Queer Belfast
8th - 15th May, M-F 10:30am-5.00pm, Sat 11.00am - 5.00pm
Happy Day Arts, Conway Mill (5-7 Conway St, Belfast, BT13 2DE)
Queer Belfast brings together a curated inter-disciplinary visual art exhibition of works by queer artists, living and working in and around Belfast, exploring the theme of ‘Queer Community and Belonging in Belfast’. This community exhibition aims to represent a range of experiences from members of Belfast’s diverse LGBTQIA+ community through visual art, exploring how community and belonging can impact and improve the mental health of queer individuals.
Recovery Street Film Festival Selection
Recovery Street Film Festival
8th - 15th May
Online
We will be showing four films from last year's Recovery Street Film Festival:
The Women's Recovery Mural by Maddie Kitchen
REACH by Kayleigh Gibbons
Sons of Jericho by Laura Roberts & Alex Black
IS by Alex Mazonowics
Now in its 12th year, the Recovery Street Film Festival has invited amateur filmmakers with lived experience of substance use - either personally or through someone close to them - to share their stories on film.
What began with screenings in public and community spaces, including literally on the street, has grown into a UK wide festival, with films viewed over one million times.
RSFF centres and elevates the voices of people directly impacted by substance use, exploring both individual and interconnected experiences. The films often reveal the reality of stigma, discrimination, mental health challenges, and the honesty and courage required to reach out for support. They also highlight the strength of community, the possibility of transformation, and the hope that recovery can inspire.
The festival is run by Sobriety Films UK CIC, alongside a cross-sector steering group including Phoenix Futures, Waythrough, Adfam, Turning Point, Project Six and Freed Up.
The festival opens for entries on the 1st May and closes 23rd August. The award ceremony and screening of the 15 shortlisted films takes place in the last week of Recovery month, September.
You can see the previous years shortlisted RSFF here:
https://rsff.co.uk/previous-entries
For more information:
REFRAMING & RECONNECTING
Brain Injury Matters
30th April - 23rd May, T - F 10:00am - 6.00pm & Saturday 10:00am - 1:00pm
Sunburst Gallery, Ards Arts Centre, Town Hall, Conway Square, Newtownards, BT23 4NP
Led by artist, researcher and designer Rachel Fitzpatrick, this exhibition presents a new site-specific installation co-created with Brain Injury Matters NI.
Drawing on Fitzpatrick’s practice at the intersection of creative health, craft and museums, and her lived experience of acquired brain injury, the work builds on past collaborations exhibited at Roe Valley Arts Centre, Limavady, Trinity College Dublin and Penn State University, USA.
Audiences can expect an immersive installation made from intricate paper crafts, exploring journeys of rehabilitation, reconnection and identity, and revealing often-unseen narratives of life after acquired brain injury through collaborative making and storytelling.
ACCESIBILITY INFORMATION: The Arts Centre is an accessible building with lift access to the Sunburst Gallery.
Traces of a Traumatic Future
Frédéric Huska
2nd May - 20th June, T-F 11:00am - 17:00pm, Sat 11:00am - 16:00pm
Opening Event: 2/05/26 at 1pm
Golden Thread Gallery, 23-29 Queen St, Belfast BT1 6EA
Golden Thread Gallery is presenting a new body of work by French artist Frédéric Huska, who is based in Northern Ireland. Working across photography, writing and film, Huska explores the relationship between personal experience, history and landscape. This new exhibition features a series of black and white analogue photographs of Taiwan’s coastline, seen as places shaped by political tension and uncertainty.
The project focuses on fourteen beaches identified as possible landing sites in the event of invasion. Starting at the sea and moving inland toward the mountains, the photographs follow the shape of the land. The images hold a quiet tension, moving between distance and closeness, presence and absence. The photographs suggest futures that may never happen, yet still influence how we see the present. Using analogue photography, Huska reflects on time, memory and how images carry traces of both past and future.
The work creates space for uncertainty. The landscapes feel both powerful and hard to define, shaped by global politics but open to different interpretations. The exhibition invites viewers to slow down and consider how we imagine what lies ahead.
The project began during an important moment in the artist’s life, marked by the death of his father and the birth of his daughter. This experience of loss and new life deepened his interest in questions about the future, vulnerability and hope. Traces of a Traumatic Future continues the artist’s sustained inquiry into the unstable ground between visibility and invisibility, past and future, and the political and the intimate.
ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION: There is level access into the venue and an accessible toilet. Motorised scooters welcome in public parts of the venue. Portable loop hearing assistance system available at the front desk. Ear defenders also available.
Transformed by Belonging
Art is Collective
8th - 15th May, 10:00am - 17:00pm
2 Royal Avenue, Belfast
Art is Collective is a group of artists with learning difficulties and mental health issues that meet weekly in 2 Royal Avenue. They emerged out of a Right to Create exhibition at Pssquared which asked who has the right to create which developed into Maker Mall, a pilot assisted studio in Castlecourt. While some people need extra assistance to develop their creativity this is not always available on a consistent basis. The group have gone from strength to strength, exhibiting in Ulster University, Belfast School of art, 2 Royal Ave and have duo exhibitions in University of Atypical. Come and see how a weekly art group can be so transformative.
ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION: Venue entrance is on flat, even ground. There is an accessible toilet on site and assistance dogs are welcomed. The venue has a sensory dome for those with sensory needs or who need a quiet place.
