Becoming Christine is a major exhibition about Christine Beynon, in partnership with visual artist Amanda Dunsmore, consisting of framed 'selfie's', an immersive narrated audio installation and a large scale, filmed video portrait.
In 2012, Amanda Dunsmore was commissioned to work with older members of Galway County’s LGBTQI+ community, in Ireland. One of the outcomes of this yearlong engagement was the friendship with Christine. This friendship became a collaboration, which then led to the artwork series and a nation-wide, exhibition tour. Through Dunsmore's social art practice and the sharing of Christine's life story, the exhibition Becoming Christine contributes to trans peoples representation and to the larger societal narrative, of Ireland's LGBTQI+ community.
The legacy of the Becoming Christine exhibition, in combining specific artistic elements based in portraiture, is not only reflective of an individual finding themselves, but is also reflective of the enormous socio-political change that has taken place in Ireland and England over the past sixty years. Through the sharing her personal journey, Christine contributed to the continuation of Ireland's inclusive, societal development.
Commissioned by Galway County Council Percent for Art, 2012. Supported by Arts Council Ireland, Major Project Award, 2016. Ireland.