Amanda Dunsmore works in art processes that explore representations of societal transformation through contextual portraiture and social historic projects. Dunsmore’s accumulative legacy practice examines place, people, and moments of political significance.

The extraordinary artwork AGREEMENT (2004–2023) features 14 video portraits of community and political leaders behind the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, sitting in silence. In 2023, a special three-screen presentation of the artwork toured five community venues across Northern Ireland as part of GFA/25.

In 2024, the Mitchell Art Gallery in Canada presented AGREEMENT as one portrait a week over fourteen weeks. In a time when conflicts are increasingly apprehended via seconds-long social media videos, this exhibition invites viewers into a slow practice of sitting in silence with each signatory of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. Sitting with people across ideological divides in the gallery mirrors the sustained engagement required over four years for the signatories to come to an agreement. It also reflects the ongoing commitments required in communities to maintain peace. “As Carolyn Jervis, Director of the Mitchell Art Gallery at MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada, noted in May 2024, sitting with these portraits allows for a deeper appreciation of the time and effort necessary to achieve and sustain peace.”