Cuimhní na Coigríche - Migration Memories
Cuimhní na Coigríche
Moira McIver
Tagann Cuimhní na Coigríche ó shraith tionscadal ealaíne a forbraíodh ó bhí na 1980idí ann, bunaithe ar dtús ar dhoiciméid chartlainne agus grianghraif teaghlaigh. Bhain na tionscadail a tháinig ina dhiaidh sin úsáid as réimse meáin, ó ceamaraí le scannáin mhóra go scanóirí digiteacha. Déanann na saothair ealaíne seo cíoradh ar eispéiris na himirce idir Dún na nGall agus Glaschú ó na 1920idí go dtí an lá atá inniu ann, agus an dóigh a mhúnlaíonn sé seo braistint féiniúlachta, go háirithe ó thaobh na mban de. Dhírigh McIver ar na glúnta deireanacha dá teaghlach, máthair ina measc. Chuaigh sí ar imirce sa bhliain 1945 ó Dhún na nGall go Glaschú ag sé bliana déag d’aois, agus an Ghaeilge mar phríomhtheanga aici. Trí staidéar a dhéanamh ar thraidisiúin ghrianghrafadóireachta stairiúla lena n-áirítear portráidíocht stiúideo agus pictiúr box brownie, déanann McIver iarracht na heispéiris seo a athfhrámú ó pheirspictíocht chomhaimseartha.
Forbraíodh na saothair ealaíne a cruthaíodh ar na mallaibh ó chónaitheacht mhalartaithe idir Artlink Donegal agus Street Level Photoworks i nGlaschú in 2021. Le linn na cónaitheachta chaith McIver am ag cur agallamh ar dhaoine aonair i nGlaschú agus i nDún na nGall a bhfuil eispéiris imirce comhchosúla ag a dteaghlaigh, ag tiomsú scéalta agus grianghraif agus ag tabhairt cuairte ar láithreacha a bhfuil tábhacht stairiúil nó phearsanta ag baint leo. Bhí suim aici sa dóigh a ndéantar eispéireas comhchoiteann de cuimhne aonair agus tá sraith de ghrianghraif tírdhreacha agus cathairdhreacha déanta aici ag amharc ar smaointe maidir le ‘díláithriú’ ag baint úsáide as troscán, teicstílí grianghraf agus rudaí sa tírdhreach.
Tugann an taispeántas seo tionscadail ó 1980-2023 le chéile i gcorp saothair a léiríonn an tarraingt mhaighnéadach idir daoine agus áit agus sreabhadh leanúnach na nglún anonn is anall trasna Mhuir Éireann.
Migration Memories
Moira McIver
Migration Memories derives from a series of art projects developed since the 1980s, originally based on archival documents and family photographs. The subsequent projects have used a range of media from large-format film cameras to digital scanners. These artworks explore the experience of migration between Donegal and Glasgow from the 1920s to the present day, and how this shapes a sense of identity, particularly from a female perspective. McIver has focused on recent generations of her family, including her mother who migrated at the age of sixteen, from Donegal to Glasgow in 1945, with Gaelic as her first language. Through the exploration of historical photographic traditions including studio portraiture and the box brownie snapshot, McIver attempts to reframe these experiences from a contemporary perspective.
The recent artworks developed from an exchange residency between Artlink Donegal and Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow in 2021. During the residency McIver spent time interviewing individuals in Glasgow and Donegal whose families have undergone similar migration experiences, collating stories and photographs and visiting locations with historical or personal significance. She was interested in how individual memory becomes a collective experience and has produced a series of landscape and cityscape photographs which explore ideas around ‘displacement’ using furniture, photo textiles and objects in the landscape.
This exhibition brings together projects from 1980-2023 in a body of work reflecting on the magnetic pull between people and place and the continuing flow of generations back and forth across the Irish Sea.