Living but a Day: Texere

Living but a Day: Texere at GOMA Waterford is a culmination of works by Chloe Austin as part of her practice-based research, which explores the impact of text-based communication on queer and feminist expression across the island of Ireland. This multifaceted project weaves together the exchange between language, identity, and activism, tracing the evolution of queer representation and striving for a contemporary queer ‘living archive’.

Text, textile, and texture – each word entwines its origins from the Latin verb texere, meaning to weave, to plait, or to construct with intricate care. At the heart of the Living but a Day project lies a devotion to queer and feminist printed ephemera and archival materials in Ireland. These artefacts, meticulously woven with historical narratives, act as both keepers of the past and sparks for contemporary discourse, carefully constructed to honour and preserve their rich stories.

Over the past year, through performative and collaborative approaches like re-speaking, repetition, and reinterpretation, these materials have transformed into vessels, combining voices of the past with the realities of the present. Interventions - whether installations, performances, or interactive exhibitions - emerge as essential case studies within the broader research, illuminating the complex intersection of text-based communication and queer-feminist history.

To mark the end of the project, Cúan Cusack and Natasha Everitt from queer collective Alien Nation were invited to do a performance titled Aegis. This performance incorporated spoken word, sound and performance art and focused on the complex nature of resistance in all its forms.