Born in Omagh in 1978 and now living in Belfast, Phil Hession is a visual artist working in performance and video. His practice explores the oral traditions of song and storytelling, and attempts to present these traditions in a contemporary manner. This is done predominantly through social and cultural exchanges, often taking the form of interviews or gatherings.

These exchanges involve the documentation and archiving of song and story, and include teaching traditional Irish song, and performing songs within public spaces.Hession adopts a non-hierarchical, organic approach in respect to these exchanges; where the roles of interviewer/interviewee, teacher/student are blurred.

Since graduating with a BA in Fine Art from the University of Ulster in 2001 he has consistently exhibited video works and made performances, including: Elective Perspective, April 2010 (Video), Galeria Arsenal, Bialystok, Poland; ….a stranger I came…. Taiwan, March 2010 (Performance), KYU Art Centre, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and Isolated, January 2009 (Video), Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast.

Hession has recently completed residencies at The Banff Centre, Canada (Jan – March 2011) and Residence Botkyrka, Stockholm, Sweden (May – June 2011).