In this wide-ranging interview at the Royal Ulster Academy exhibition in the Ulster Museum, Noelle McAlinden is joined by award-winning artist and Belfast School of Art lecturer Dougal McKenzie.

He reflects on his painting practice, his role as an arts educator, and the enduring relevance of figurative painting. He discusses returning to an “art school painting” sensibility after a creative hiatus, emphasising materiality, narrative, memory, and the importance of looking at paintings in person rather than through screens.

McKenzie also explores the relationship between teaching and making, the value of authenticity and instinct in art, and why painting—rooted in human experience—remains vital in an age of digital imagery and AI.