Location: Teahouses, Bateman Quay, Kilkenny
Dates: 18th – 31st July 2026
Opening Hours: Thurs- Sunday 12 – 5pm (excluding Sun 26th)
Opening Launch: Saturday 18th July 3 – 5 pm
Chosen Families Portrait Event ( Kilkenny Pride): Saturday 25th July 4 – 7pm
Chosen Families is a collaborative portrait exhibition exploring the relationships we create beyond traditional ideas of family with artist Ki McBride and curated by Shane Gallagher.
Rooted in the experiences of LGBTQ+ participants, the project celebrates the friendships, solidarity and care that help us not only to find support, but to discover, express and become our most authentic selves.
Bringing together photography, video, sound, personal objects and participants’ own contributions, the exhibition presents seven co-created portraits. Rather than simply photographing people, each work emerged through a process of collaboration, with every participant helping to shape how they, their relationships, and their stories would be represented. Each portrait carries the traces and memories of that shared experience.
While portraiture has often been used to commemorate power, status or biological family, Chosen Families turns its attention to the people we choose—and who choose us in return. It honours friendship, community and care as relationships equally worthy of being seen, remembered and celebrated.
As part of Kilkenny Pride, the exhibition will also host a Chosen Families Portrait Event on Saturday 25 July from 4.00 pm at the Tea Houses. Pride attendees are warmly invited to drop in with their friends, partners or chosen family to have a portrait made together. Each group will receive a complimentary digital copy of their photograph, extending the project beyond the gallery and celebrating the connections that continue to strengthen our communities.
