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| Irish Landscape and Memories Series 2012 - 2018 Benbulben 2018 |
Isn’t it Ironic?
Ireland faces Brexit while we approach the centenary of partition and the Irish Civil War 2020 – 2023
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| Landscape and Memories series 2012 - 2018 |
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| Landscape and Memories series 2012 - 2018 |
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| Landscape and Memories Series 2012- -2018 |
Is it a coincidence or an opportunity for all the people of the Island of Ireland to have a say in the future of our Country, and to examine new and exciting possibilities for a united Ireland, united in a metaphysical way. This opportunity should be given to the people of Ireland to solve. We cannot leave it to the political parties/groups to decide alone…
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| Landscape and Memories Series 2012 - 2018 |
We need an intellectual and creative approach to the brexit issue and to the commemoration of Partition and the Irish Revolution 2020 – 2023. Http/www.creativeireland.ie has launched creative Ireland, the centenary’s legacy initiative, launched, a five year plan 2017 – 2022.
I have been examining and probing these issues in my paintings for over five years, creating work inspired by the Irish Landscape and Memories I beleive the landscape holds, Irish people have had such a profound relationship with the land, it represents our freedom, our desires to make decisions for our own futures, it represents our identity. Although we do not have the same issues facing us as our countrymen and women of the past had. which was a need to be an independent country. If a foreign country rules another, it seeks to eradicate the things that define the people and their identity. Yet the memories the landscape holds can never be eradicated. I began this series 2012 – 2018 along with my Caves to Canvas series 2014 – 2018, to examine the notion of landscape and memories in my artistic practice.
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| Landscape and Memories Series 2012 - 2018 |
There are a number of articles on my blog, discussing both series of Artwork.
What has motivated me to write this? I recently purchased the book Atlas of The Irish Revolution by Dr. Roisin Higgins, Sr. Lecturer in History at Queens University, Belfast, Ireland. #queensuniversityhistory #roisinhiggins #commemorationandtheirishrevolution
Dr. Roisin Higgins put into words a dilemma I have faced while examining a creative expression of Irish people, our history and the power our landscape has had, in its role as a kind of holder of our memories. The memories embedded in the landscape as a result of the Irish Revolution, The Anti-Treaty and Partition, Ironically all these events are “in the air” as we face Brexit because we are approaching the centenary of these historical events that shaped the Ireland of today and the difficult years from the 1970s and 1980s. The memories and personal histories that are embedded in our landscape, I hope to capture and create a visual record of these stories, and memories for future generations. I will create Visual Art while collaborating with people in the various communities around Ireland. The creative solution will be recording the creation of visual art.
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| Caves to Canvas Series 2014 - 2018, Mangerton. |
Dr. Higgins writes in the book Atlas of The Irish Revolution `Commemorations' take moments of rupture and attempt to reshape them into representations of traditions or continuity. The fractious nature of the revolutionary period in Ireland has created many possibilities for commemorative events, as well as a great deal of potential for division. The signature events of the period, in various ways, exacerbated political differences in the country and ended in partition of the Island. The challenge for the commemorating therefore has been to find ways to remember commemorate the revolutionary period that do aggravate tendencies in the. It is a challenge that has often ended in defeat.
After reading Dr. Higgins's analysis of the issues surrounding commemorating the Irish revolution, anti-treaty, etc., I felt she had put perfectly into words what most artists and writers face in Ireland if they wish to focus their work on the commemoration. We can't be influenced by one side over the other side. We have to be honest and fair to all sides. I feel I have come to a solution, and it’s a solution that grew organically out of the process of my approach to the artwork I have been creating. That is to have the people of Ireland have a voice in this process, in Bexit and in doing so, I feel a solution will be reached. The process or journey of reaching the creative solution will be cathartic, which is poignant as we face the centenary of the Irish Revolution 2020 – 2023
My work has involved people in the community who can give an oral history and a voice to those who were active and alive during the Irish Revolution. These oral histories focus on ordinary people who were extraordinary during that harsh time in our history, while others are known by most people in Ireland, such as the Noble Six from County Sligo.
While doing this work, I concluded that we, the people, need to start engaging as communities both north and south in the commemoration process and in our future as we face Brexit. We need to start changing our language and talk in terms of a united Ireland, and I am not naive when I say this!!! I mean united in Voice, in creativity, in solutions, in inclusion, in self-respect.
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| Benbulben, County Sligo |
I have interviewed people in different communities around Ireland, they have told stories of the past of their memories of the events surrounding our civil war, stories past down to them, stories they overheard as children and so on....it is these interactions along with going to specific locations around Ireland that informs my work. I borrowed the idea of recording and listening to peoples stories and experiences, or their memories from the work I did for The Shoah Foundation, now known as USC Shoah Foundation, a very successful project recording and maintaining oral histories from the survivors of the Holocaust. I filmed the interviews of holocaust survivors, the interviews were conducted to give a voice to the victim and to have a permanent record of the horrific events during the holocaust. The interviews I recorded were in Frankfurt, Germany during 1994. For my Art series Irish Landscape and Memories and Caves to Canvas Series, I have focused the first stage of interviews with people who had a connection with Caves and the land around Mountain ranges in Ireland, Caves and mountain ranges that people sought refuge in, during the Irish Revolution/The Irish Civil War. Three locations: Benbulben, Mountain/Cave in County Sligo, Dunmore Cave, County Kilkenny and Carlow, Mangerton Mountain in Killarney, County Kerry, Cave Located close to Fenit, County Kerry.
When I create my work based on how I feel our landscape has been affected by these events, I am also influenced by the act of painting or drawing, creating something. I start out as if I am in control of the process, but then I find the work also dictates how I will create it. While at Art School I had a professor say to me, "creating art is like a conversation, the artist and the canvas or piece being worked on have a dialogue" I always consider this statement when I work, the further along I am, the work will guide me to make creative decisions, so the process and act of painting will also play a large part in how the painting takes shape.
Another massive influence i my work is my own personal experience in life. I think of two Artists who have influenced me massively ad they are Nancy Spero and Louise Bourgeois.... and like both of these artists I will always be wrestling with personal issues, and trying to use my work to give a voice and strength to the victim(victim past and present) to the outsider, to the misunderstood, to the other, basically trying to use my work to give a voice and hopefully strength to the other. I will always use notions of community, memory, land, poverty, to the marginalised.
#brexit #shoah #irelandonenorthandsouth #creativeireland
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| Dunmore Cave, County Kilkenny and County Carlow |
Creative Commemoration
My approach to commemoration this time is to involve people of Ireland, people within communities by recording their oral histories. They have also become involved in the process of creating the artwork. My work focuses on The Irish Landscape and the impact of these events on the environment, the human environment and the landscape environment. I am still in the early phases of the work. I have come to believe since working ad engaging each community I have worked with is: the solution to solving brexit is to recognise that this can be a very positive event for Ireland. A possible way it will be a positive event for the Island of Ireland is to ensure that the people of Ireland come together with a united voice. A united voice will ensure union. We need to learn from the past, we can’t leave the solution to political groups who are thinking in a very singular way, not in an inclusive way. By their very nature these political parties thrive and become relevant when there is conflict. That is not to say that they should not be part of the dialogue, we need more input from the people all over Ireland, north and south, I hope I can achieve developing some awareness for the need to have more people in Ireland become part of the dialogue and solution. At minimum I would suggest people familiarise themselves with Dr. Roisin Higgins, Sr. Lecturer in History at Queens University, Belfast.
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| Landscape and Memories Series 2012 - 2018 |
Additional sources
historyhub.ie, Commemorating Partition and Civil Wars in Ireland, 2020 – 2023, decadeofcentenaries.com, ireland2016.gov.ie, creativeireland.ie
#decadeofcentenaries #historyhubireland
