Can You See Me Now

‘Can You See Me Now’ grew from the Uillinn Bealtaine Award 2025 and turns its gaze toward identity in later life, set against the shifting landscape of contemporary Ireland.
In the wake of recent global and national upheavals, the work reflects on how displacement and isolation leave their mark on human lives, exposing forms of separation—social, political, sexual, cultural, and psychological—that speak to the layered complexity of human experience.
Drawing on the childhood game of “Peek A Boo”— now you see me, now you don’t —‘Can You See Me Now’ evokes communities concealed at society’s edges and the quiet attrition of being unseen. It speaks to the silences that gather around those unheard in professional spaces, and to the ache of connection withheld in personal relationships. Yet the work does not remain in absence. It insists on visibility, on a presence that will not be diminished, absorbed, or made to conform. In its unfolding, it becomes a gesture of liberation: a celebration of individuality, resilience, and the right to be fully seen.
The soundtrack creates its own resonance, building slowly, fading in and out, a soundscape that is an unsettling accompaniment to the visuals. Its composer, Karen Power, creates her powerful sonic landscapes from a mix of found sounds, redefining the traditional musical score to create an atmospheric soundtrack to Bernie’s visuals. She described this as ‘The composition uses an array of recorded body sounds as its starting point. From there, it expands and connects with a variety of less obvious real and living everyday sounds that I feel offer depth, texture and tones to the on-screen bodies. The sound aims to offer an array of positions, from which to experience this whole work.’

Can You See Me Now | 2026 | 18"

Full Duration: 6' – Format: Digital UHD – Aspect Ratio: 16:9 – Sound: Stereo - Source formats: H 264 | ProRes 422 HQ

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Screenings and Panel Discussions:

Screening at Homelands Projection 2026, Damer House Gallery 3rd of October at Black Mills Studio (03-10-2026)

Screening at the LOOP Festival on the 12th of November at  Alalimón Galeria, Barcelona Spain (12-11-2026)