Artistic expertise helps inform tribute to Roger Casement

An artist and Teesside University lecturer is adding her expertise to an event marking 100 years since the death of controversial Irish figure Roger Casement.

Fionnuala Doran, Senior Lecturer in Comics, Graphic Novels and Sequential Arts, will take part in a discussion and screening at the Naughton Gallery in Belfast titled ‘Roger, Roger’ alongside fellow artist Alan Phelan.

Both have been inspired by Casement, a complex man now remembered variously as a patriot, a traitor, and a gay icon.

Earlier this year, Fionnuala released the graphic novel The Trial of Roger Casement which explores the startling downfall of Casement in comic book form, from his efforts to secure German backing for an independent Ireland to the circulation of his private journals, laying bare his sexuality.

Alan Phelan’s film, ‘Our Kind’ (2016), adopts a different approach, imagining a future for Casement had he not been executed in 1916, set twenty-five years later in Norway.

The Naughton Gallery’s Ben Crothers will discuss both works with Doran and Phelan, followed by a screening of ‘Our Kind’, on Sunday 18 December. Original sketchbooks and drawings by Fionnuala will also be on display.

Alongside creating graphic novels, Doran co-leads Teesside University’s undergraduate degree, Comics, Graphic Novels & Sequential Art, alongside artist Tara McInerney.

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