'Biscuit Tin Nostalgia' to connect with Cork
Good Day Cork asked Elize de Beer about her new solo visual art exhibition.
Good Day Cork [GDC] : How did you decide to do this project? Why is it important to you and for Cork?
Elize de Beer [EdB] : The body of work was created as a response and reflection on the Liam Kennedy Photographic Collection housed in UCC Library’s Special Collections Archives.
The archives was starting a housing project for the collection, and it felt like the perfect opportunity to engage with the collection for this body of work. My practise has become focused around responding to various archives from personal, council and now an institutionally housed archive with the Liam Kenndey collection.
The collection consists of =hundreds of images from across professional photographer Liam Kennedy’s career spanning 1930-80, the collection documents the everyday lives of Corkonians from the period — street scenes, family moments, coastal views, and quiet moments of ordinary life.
The collection is an enticing historical view of Cork and its people and within my work I’ve started to ask more questions around belongs and finding that belonging in a new unfamiliar space.
As an immigrant who has now called Cork home for the last 4 years, I’m still working through the ideas around belonging and how working with these types of archives can allow me a sense of grounding.
GDC: What kind of challenges did you encounter while doing your work with the archives?
EdB : My aim was to speak to the archive, reflect on it, yet showcase my personal interpretation. I was first very overwhelmed by the amount of event photography and portraits in the collection, and found it very difficult to relate to the images and find a connection. It was highlighting my outsider view point.
I was then developing a methodology of working with archives that allow me to find a connection point to work off of. Through that methodology I was drawn to all the photographic mistakes like the double exposure found in the collection and the landscapes.
When I arrived in Ireland, it was a large culture shock and my way of finding connection to this new space was and still is through the landscape and coastal areas. I used that methodology to work the archive, being drawn to the landscapes and used those images as my main subject matter. Creating my own double exposures digitally, echoing what I found in the archive and creating screenprints and photoetchings from those images I made.
I’ve routed myself in the landscapes of Cork and I hope that others can also see themselves in the images. – Elize de Beer
GDC : What have you learned about Cork and her people through the archives? What information from the archive has left a lasting impression on you?
EdB: I learn that Cork has such a rich history and it’s people and their own love for Cork is at the centre of it. You can see that pride for Cork in all the images. You can see the hard working everyday people in these images and that’s what also become so relatable and inspiring.
GDC : How has this project impacted you?
EdB : Even though the body of work is a reflection of the archive, its been expressed through my own personal narratives and experiences. I wanted to show that these archives are important, for Cork and its people, but also for the people coming here to call Cork home.
It allows people a chance to learn and connect to a history they haven’t had the chance to experience first had. Archives can give people that experience, and have a chance to see elements of themselves in it.
I’ve learned through making this work that Cork has become my home and it has given me the ability to grow as an artist.
My aim was to speak to the archive, reflect on it, yet showcase my personal interpretation. I was first very overwhelmed by the amount of event photography and portraits in the collection, and found it very difficult to relate to the images and find a connection. It was highlighting my outsider view point. – Elize de Beer
GDC : What can people expect from your exhibition? What has been the response so far?
EdB : People can expect to see my refection on this archive. See how I navigate Cork when I arrived and now I’m still navigating the space 4 years later. I’ve routed myself in the landscapes of Cork and I hope that others can also see themselves in the images. I’ve been grateful for the positive support and feedback I’ve received on the exhibition so far and look forward to seeing how its received as the show continues.
Archives can give people that experience, and have a chance to see elements of themselves in it. – Elize de Beer
Event: Elize de Beer in Conversation with Dr Angela Griffith
Saturday 28 March, 2-3pm, Cork Public Museum, Fitzgerald Park, Cork City, T12 V0AA
Join the in-depth discussion with artist Elize de Beer and Dr Angela Griffith, Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture at Trinity College Dublin, in Cork Public Museum on Saturday 28 March from 2-3pm as part of her Elize’s solo exhibition Biscuit Tin Nostalgia. Currently on show in the Sample-Studios Gallery, The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion. Elize and Angela will be reflecting on the exhibition and key ideas around land and archival research within Elize’s artistic practice.
All welcome and no booking required. Learn more about the exhibition here.
About Elize de Beer:
In de Beer’s expanded print practice, she explores and critically engages with archival materials to examine not only the act of archiving but also how archives shape personal narratives and address broader global concerns such as climate change, immigration, land, and the preservation of knowledge. Working with both photographic and written archival sources, de Beer uses these materials to construct new or alternative narratives, drawing on analogue and digital processes to question how histories are recorded, mediated, and re-imagined.
About Dr Angela Griffith:
Dr Griffith is an art historian who specialises in Irish modern and contemporary art and design. Her research examines the history, contexts, and theories of the printed image in Britain and Ireland from the beginnings of modernist fine art printmaking in the 1850s to contemporary multi-media practices. Most recently her focus is on the contribution of artists to illustration, the private press movement, and limited-edition publishing, c.1910 to 1970.
About Elize De Beer's 'Biscuit Tin Nostalgia' Solo Exhibition
Sample-Studios presents Biscuit Tin Nostalgia, a solo exhibition of new work by
Cork-based artist Elize de Beer. Through photographic etching, mixed media collage,
and sculpture, de Beer explores and reinterprets historic images of 20th-century Cork in response to the Liam Kennedy Photographic Collection, rehoused in UCC Library’s Special Collections & Archives in 2025.
In developing this exhibition, de Beer conducted visual and material research alongside UCC Library’s Special Collections & Archives, which undertook a project funded by The Heritage Council to rehouse the contents of the Liam Kennedy Photographic Collection. Comprising hundreds of images from across professional photographer Liam Kennedy’s career spanning 1930-80, the collection documents the everyday lives of Corkonians from the period — street scenes, family moments, coastal views, and quiet moments of ordinary life.
Visit this exhibition at The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, March 5th – April 18th 2026
