“First things first, Anne-May’s exhibition which opens February 1, is called Can you hear me Damo? which could mean, well, anything. What it actually means is quite meta, very Cork, and 100% pandemic.

Like everybody else, Anne-May, 27, originally from Crosshaven now living in the city, spent a lot of the pandemic, especially in 2020, indoors and on the computer. But back then, there was more novelty to what we couldn’t do as a result of the restrictions, and Zoom calls and Zoom parties and gatherings didn’t feel as shit as they do mostly do now.

And so Anne-May joined a game of lockdown bingo on Zoom organised by this guy Damo, who she thinks lives down in Mahon.

“He’s such a fun guy and it’s hilarious because there’s about 200 people playing online and without fail someone at the beginning of the bingo will say ‘Can you hear me Damo, can you hear me?”

“And he’s just like, ‘Yeah, we can hear you’re fine, if you shout bingo, we’ll hear you.”

And that throwaway line, addressed to Damo, repeated over and over has now found its way into the title of her exhibition.

Written by JJ O’Donoghue for Tripe + Drisheen