They Glide Like Birds - Single & In Groups Over The Roads (2016)
This body of work explored how the photograph can operate as a site of mnemonic return, in the construction and reconstruction of ideas of identity, place and belonging. In 1954 the renowned American photographer Dorothea Lange visited Co. Clare, on a six-week assignment for Life Magazine. While Lange is recognized as one of the greatest documentary photographers of the 20th century, her work from Ireland remains relatively unknown. During her six-weeks in Ireland, Lange shot some 2,400 images, but only nineteen of these were published during her lifetime. The remainder remained buried in the archives of the Oakland Museum of California until the early 1990’s when Gerry Mullins, an Irish freelance journalist discovered the work by chance while searching for an Irish interest item. His book Dorothea Lange’s Ireland (1998), is the first and only overview published to date. In (2006) I returned to Ireland after over a decade abroad, and settled in County Clare. I found his book by chance and was simultaneously both drawn to and troubled by these photographs. On one level the work is evocative, triggering memories of an idea of the West of Ireland steeped in nostalgic association, interwoven with both individual and collective ideas of identity. As a member of the returning diaspora this material was especially poignant. It seemed to ‘bring me back’, to allow me remember a time and a place, promoting a sense of origin and also return.
Initial stages of this project involved travelling around the county in search of similar events and subjects, to discover what remains, if anything of what she captured. In June (2015) with the help of a Travel and Training Award from The Irish Arts Council, I also visited the Lange Archives in California, to view the entire Irish portfolio, including Lange’s field notes and the unpublished works. From this I selected ten images in particular, all relating to the lived experience of Irish women. Supported by a Creating Space Grant from The Clare Arts Office (2015), I then initiated a community-based project in my local townland of Kilkeedy, an area Lange had visited. The aim was to work with a focus group from within the community originally depicted, and explore how the photograph can operate as a site of mnemonic return. Participants created their own photographic journeys in response to Langes’ imnages, as well as collaboratively reimagining certain moments, but within a contemporary context.
Outcomes were exhibited at both Glór Ennis (2015) and The Courthouse Gallery Ennistymon, (2016). In addition to participants responses these shows also included fifteen new works of my own, the ten previously unseen original Lange prints from Calaforina, and ten prints from the personal collection of Gerry Mullins. Several descendants of the subjects in Langes’ work attended the opening of the show in Ennistymon on Culture Night (2016), where Gerry Mullins also spoke about his (1998) book. Collaborative participants in this project included Ann O’Donnell, Michael O’ Donoghue, Tess Diviney, Colm Mac Lochlainn, Martin Kiely, Michael Keane, Michael O’Connor, Desmond Early and Bernie O’Grady.
Presentation of Project Research as part of Irish Museum of Modern Art Art, Memory, Place Seminars series.
Work from series included in PhotoIreland’s ‘100 Views of Contemporary Ireland’.
Opening of project exhibition at The Courthouse Gallery Ennistymon, with Artist talk and guest presentation by Gerry Mullins, for Culture Night (2016).
