Mark Leahy is a writer and artist working with text, voice, sound, and actions. Originally from Ireland, he now lives and works in Southwest England. His work uses constraints, structuring rules, and operates to cross or question category and genre divisions including around queer identity and social agency. Projects have explored the capacity, meaning and culture of the human voice, alongside the presentation and performance of self.
Recent performance, radio and audio works include ‘twiceness’ with Shelley Hodgson (Mayfest, Plymouth, May 2024), ‘cream of the crop’ (SOAK Live Art, Plymouth, January 2024), ‘capes, folds, drapes’ with Will Luz (Plymouth, 2023), ‘revised dictionary supplement’ (The House, University of Plymouth, Feb 2022; Amata, Falmouth University, June 2022); ‘Hello! This is a test.’ for radia.fm (2021); the Constrained Radio series for Soundart Radio (2021); ‘Breath Pieces’ choreographed by Rosanna Irvine (Tramway, Glasgow, 2018); ‘telling time’ (Jamboree, Devon, 2018); ’threaded insert’ (Plymouth Art Weekender, 2017; Cardiff, 2018); ‘Breathing Line’ choreographed by Rosanna Irvine (Dance4, Nottingham, 2017); ’subject to gesture’ with Benjamin D. Duvall (Liverpool, 2017); ‘his voice’ (Plymouth, 2015; Manchester, 2016), ’flat-head self-tapping’ at Chelsea School of Art (May 2015) and ‘answering machine’ for Experimentica14 at Chapter Cardiff (Nov 2014).
At Sounds Like: 3 Projects was published by if p then q press in 2021, other poetry includes Swatches (Acts of Language, 2009), and Subject to Gesture (Dock Road Press, 2017). Artist publications include ‘9×9: a set of poems under constraint’ (ArtsandCultureExeter, 2020), ’in the key of’ (Counter Plymouth Artist Book Fair, 2015) and ‘lengths and ends: six poems for Penzance’ (CAZ Weekender, Penzance, 2012). He was commissioned to write texts to accompany work by artists including Nathan Walker, Katy Connor, Andrew Kearney, Steven Paige, and LOW PROFILE. Poems have appeared in Tentacular, Stride, Freaklung, and The Other Room Anthology 8. Residencies include Grass (Live Art Ireland, Milford House, October 2023), Enter Text (Arteles Creative Centre, Finland, November 2018) and Redefining Print (Double Elephant Print Studios, 2014-15). Critical publications include essays in Hyperrhiz, C21 Literature, Open Letter, Performance Research Journal and Journal of Writing in Creative Practice.
He is active in peer-networks supporting artists’ activity in his region, teaches part-time at Plymouth University and Falmouth University and has supervised and examined a significant number of MA and PhD projects. He is a co-director of CAMP , is on the board of Soundart Radio, is chair of the board of Take A Part, and was a founding director of art.earth.