It’s a timely topic.

Artist Dominic Thorpe, who has been exploring perpetrator trauma in an Irish context for several years, is bringing a symposium on perpetrator trauma and the Irish Civil War to Crawford Art Gallery this January.

The artist will also host a live durational drawing performance at the venue.

Perpetrator trauma is a condition that has been studied in relation to some of the world’s worst conflicts and atrocities, including the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge’s deadly reign in Cambodia.

Broadly characterised as the pain of causing pain, it can be experienced by individuals and groups struggling to comprehend and process violence they have been directly or indirectly responsible for.

It is often overlooked in the quest to centre victim and survivor experiences of violence, but to recognise it is to acknowledge a fuller spectrum of the trauma that can exist within society in the aftermath of violence.

A symposium, on Saturday, January 27th, 2024, will explore a fuller account of the personal and societal impacts of violence and the place of perpetrators in memory and commemoration.

Experts Dr Cara Levey of University College Cork, Dr Síobhra Aiken of Queen’s University, Belfast, and human rights documentary maker Peadar King will join Thorpe for a public discussion at the gallery.

The symposium coincides with Dark Dark Mouth, a body of performance, drawing, and installation work by Thorpe at Crawford Art Gallery, exploring perpetrator trauma and the Irish Civil War in Cork City.

Dr Síobhra Aiken will speak on Perpetrator Trauma and the Irish Civil War, Dr Cara Levey will address the Place of Perpetrators in the Commemoration of Atrocity in Latin America, and Dr Dominic Thorpe will talk about Perpetrator Trauma and Contemporary Visual Art from Ireland, followed by a panel discussion chaired by Peadar King from 10am – 1pm on Saturday, January 27th, 2024.

Dark Dark Mouth by Dominic Thorpe runs from January 15th – 28th, 2024 in Crawford Art Gallery’s Upper Gallery, Gibson Galleries, and Lecture Theatre with a live durational drawing performance from 11am-3pm on Thursday, January 25th in the Gibson Galleries.