Nach Cuma? Who Cares? | Aaron Sunderland Carey at The LAB Gallery

Event Details

Thursday 21 August – Tuesday 30 September 2025

Curated by Margarita Cappock 

Nach Cuma? Who Cares? is an exhibition that explores the politics of care and responsibility with a focus on class and race within working class communities in Dublin. Developed out of a series of collaborative workshops with youth and adult groups in Rialto, Bluebell and Ballymun the project responds to an alarming rise in hate-driven rhetoric and division, particularly within working-class spaces. 

This exhibition follows on from Carey’s earlier work Stones, which focused on the relationship between individuals and place in Ballymun. Where Stones honed in on one community, Nach Cuma? expands to hold space across multiple sites, bringing people into slow, honest conversations about difficult truths and lived realities. Through a dialogical process and workshops within The LAB Gallery, the exhibition becomes a platform for intergenerational dialogue and reflection. Rejecting tokenism and reactionary politics, the work seeks instead to centre care and asks: who provides it, who receives it, and what happens when it is absent? Through visual, social, and dialogic forms, Nach Cuma? offers not conclusions but a methodology: one of listening, reflection, and accountability.

The exhibition will open on Thursday 21st August: 6pm – 8pm 

The exhibition will be opened by Willa White.

Aaron Sunderland Carey is a Dublin-based socially engaged artist and youth worker working across community spaces, youth clubs, and both informal and formal educational settings. His work investigates the intersections of land, class, masculinity, community, and systemic oppression. Central to his practice is the use of long-term collaboration, often with marginalised groups, to foster spaces for difficult, necessary conversations. At the core of this long-term practice is over three years of collaboration with Rialto Youth Project and a life spent in Ballymun making art and working with the community of Ballymun. Aaron’s work is grounded in ethics of care and accountability and is influenced by his hometown of Ballymun. He employs methods rooted in listening, reflection, and mutual learning—facilitating workshops that prioritise community voice and agency. He has worked extensively in areas such as Ballymun and Rialto, developing partnerships with youth projects, community organisations and local schools.

Aaron has participated in numerous socially engaged residencies and projects, including Common Grounds Studio 468, and has collaborated with groups including Rialto Youth Project, Poppintree youth project, The Axis Ballymun and The LAB Gallery. His practice sits between visual art, storytelling, and social action—always aiming to make space for storytelling and transformation.