Cré: Believing Earth
Cré: Believing Earth
Karen Hendy, Holger Lonze, Paddy Bushe, Tim O’Neill, John Minihan, Alex Boyd, Joanne Barry, Anne O’Donnell & Jonathan Minihan.
Tá portaigh lárnach i gcruthú taobh tíre na hÉireann: cruthaíodh portaigh arduithe i lár na tíre agus is bratphortach an gné is suntasaí de chósta Atlantach na tíre. Thar thréimhse 10,000 bliain leagadh síos bruscar de chaonaigh portaigh agus plandaí eile, ag ráta 1mm in aghaidh na bliana, é ar fad á thiomáint ag báisteach ag teacht ón Atlantach. D’athraigh an próiseas seo an taobh tíre go mall thar na blianta. Chuir gníomhaíocht daonna leis an athrú seo, trí feidhm a bhaint as móin mar bhreosla tí agus tionsclaíochta, chomh maith le móin a bheith á bhaint mar ábhar garraíodóireachta. Ach mar gheall ar bhaint móna le meaisíní, tá breis is trian de phortaigh na hÉireann caillte don ngearradh faoin am seo. Anois, mar gheall ar a dtábhacht mar umair carbóin i ré seo an athrú aeráide, tá gá againn le athrú tuisceana agus úsáide i leith na bportach.
Caitheann an taispeántas seo súil ar phlé daonna le portaigh na tíre, ag díriú ar bhéaloideas, miotaseolaíocht, traidisiún agus ábharthacht phortaigh Uíbh Ráthaigh. Don dtogra comhghníomach seo, chruinnigh Karen Hendy ealaíontóirí agus oirfidigh ag obair lena chéile, go minic ar shlite nach bhfuil said i dtaithí orthu – rud a spreag comhrá cruthaíoch thar dhisciplíní eagsúla: péintéireacht, griangrafadóireacht, filíocht, peannaireacht agus liníocht gníomhúil – rianta a d’fhág rinceoirí ar ghualach a bhí spréite ar scrollaí. Baineann siad ar fad inspioráid as gluaiseachtaí rince a ghlacann mar phointe tosaigh an tsaothair agus an athshaothair deasghnáthúil a bhaineann go minic le gearradh na móna.
Is iad na healaíontóirí rannpháirteacha ná; an file Paddy Bushe, an staraí agus an callagrafaí Tim O’Neill, an grianghrafadóir John Minihan, an físealaíontóir Karen Hendy, an dealbhóir Holger Lonze, an grianghrafadóir, an t-acadóir, an déantóir priontaí agus an scríbhneoir Alex Boyd agus na rinceoirí Joanne Barry,
Anne O’Donnell agus Jonathan Kelliher.
Seoladh an taispeántas i Siamsa Tíre agus chuaigh sé ar camchuairt go Dánlann Butter Market i gCeann Mara; leanfaidh sé ar aghaidh go dtí Fondúireacht Ealaíon Bhaile an Ghleanna, Co. Mhaigh Eo.
Cré: Believing Earth
Karen Hendy, Holger Lonze, Paddy Bushe, Tim O’Neill, John Minihan, Alex Boyd, Joanne Barry, Anne O’Donnell & Jonathan Minihan.
The Irish rural landscape is shaped by wetlands: raised bogs formed in the midlands region while mountain blanket bogs define Ireland’s Atlantic seaboard. Over ten millennia sphagnum mosses and plant debris have accumulated at a rate of 1mm per year, fuelled by the relentless rain approaching from the Atlantic Ocean. This slow process changed the Irish landscape gradually but surely over time. Human intervention contributed further to this change, using turf as a domestic and industrial fuel source and harvesting peat as a growing medium. Accelerated by machine cutting, however, more than a third of Irish wetlands are now lost through cutting for turbary. Now our understanding and use of boglands needs to change again, given their crucial role as carbon sinks in the age of climate collapse.
The exhibition draws attention to human interaction with the Irish boglands, focusing on the folklore, mythology, traditions and the materiality associated with the bogs of Uíbh Ráthach. For this collaborative project, Karen Hendy brought together artists and performers working with each other, often outside the comfort zone of their familiar work environments and teams - a process that sparked creative dialogue across disciplines: painting, photography, poetry, calligraphy and performative drawing - marks created by dancers in charcoal on paper scrolls. They all take their inspiration from dance movements that take the repetitive, almost ritualistic task of turf cutting as a starting point. The Irish word Cré means both earth and clay but also refers to system of belief or principles.
Contributing artists are poet Paddy Bushe, historian and calligrapher Tim O’Neill, photographer John Minihan, visual artist Karen Hendy, sculptor Holger Lonze, photographer, academic, printmaker and writer Alex Boyd and dancers Joanne Barry, Anne O’Donnell and Jonathan Kelliher.
The exhibition was launched in Siamsa Tíre and has toured to Butter Market Gallery, Kenmare; it will continue on to The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Mayo.