Billy Kenrick, The Very End of Everything

The Very End of Everything

In his latest project, The Very End of Everything, Billy Kenrick explores the concept of peripheral space, the idealisation of place, and the elusive nature of artistic revelation. Through a combination of techniques, formats, and processes, a sense of fragmentation and shifting perspective emerges. Kenrick’s work seeks to examine the indeterminate, material nature of images and their capacity to describe subjective experience.

The project is partly inspired by the story of French author Antonin Artaud’s 1937 visit to Ireland, which ended in his arrest and deportation. Artaud claimed to possess a holy relic — St Patrick’s crozier, or Bachal Isu — and sought to return the item to its native land. Artaud was ultimately drawn to the island of Inis Mór, seeking out what he imagined to be an isolated, somewhat idyllic place. He claimed to be on the brink of a visionary breakthrough, writing from Galway to André Breton: “You are going to see, once you have examined the Magic Spell, that things are about to become serious and that this time, I’m going to the very end of everything.”

The structure of the project is based on this journey, featuring images from related locations. The work is also informed by historical research and is framed more broadly as a study of the marginalised role of the artist within society.

Billy Kenrick

Billy Kenrick is an artist specialising in analogue photographic techniques used in combination with contemporary technologies. He also works with experimental sound and moving image. He applies a process-led approach to his practice, with an emphasis on the materiality of images and print media. He works in series, consolidating projects in formats such as handmade artist books, zines, and darkroom prints. His work is informed by a study of the history of photography, as well as movements in experimental film and painting. His educational background is in literature, philosophy, and fine art.

Billy Kenrick, The Very End of Everything
New Irish Works series 2025–27
Launch 6pm Thu 14 May 2026
Running 15 May–9 August 2026
At the International Centre for the Image