BBC Arts NI presents

The RUA is Northern Ireland’s biggest annual art exhibition, an opportunity for all artists - professionals and amateurs alike - to show their work at the Ulster Museum. This documentary follows five artists hoping to have their work selected from the competitive open call. For the first time ever, cameras have been allowed behind-the-scenes at the 142-year-old Royal Ulster Academy. The five artists have been chosen from across Northern Ireland and each has their own story to tell. Comedian Colin Murphy took up painting during lockdown. Stephen Greer, a former drug dealer and paramilitary member, learned to paint in prison. For anxiety-sufferer Amy Wyatt and her mother Alice, a survivor of sexual abuse, ceramics and print-making are more than hobbies: they’re lifelines. Farmer Thomas McNeill makes giant sculptures as a means of self-expression. The programme follows the artists through the process of creating an artwork to finding out whether or not it has been accepted.