Skibbereen's visual take on Irish words for menstruation and supernatural lights
Clíatha Fís by William Bock, a phrase meaning 'wattles of knowledge'.
An exhibition of photos is currently on display in public spaces and retail windows around Skibbereen, collecting pictures taken by residents and other photographers in response to writer Manchán Magan's book, Thirty-Two Words for Field.
The book, which digs up old Irish words and examines the relationship of the language to nature and humanity, served as an inspiration for a selection of work by a variety of photographers, seeking to interpret words and their meaning in a changing world.
Talking about the inspiration for the project, co-curator and Photo Focal collective co-founder Carmel Winters speaks of her friendship with the book's author, and knowing his connection to Ireland's mother tongue.
"Well, myself and Manchán would know each other a fair few years, we're both inspired by Irish. He'd been at openings of mine, and I've been reading his books, and we've always wondered when our two worlds would collide.
"When I went to see a show he was doing, Arán agus Im (before the release of the book), it was about how Irish, as an ancient language, is a gateway to a way of seeing the world that we really need in our lives, and that the language is a code for a way of seeing the world, a way of being in the world, and particularly for a way of connecting to nature.
"I think we all have that feeling, when you're out some days in a particular mist, or the cobwebs are shining on every bush in your garden.
"And we all do have a sense of something just feeling a little bit magical, so the words are with stoking a kind of cultural memory that can be revived, it's not dead, when people hear the words and the musicality of the words, and they see an image."
Assembling like minds on any artistic project can be a daunting task on the best of occasions, but a host of 'visual thinkers' have assembled around Photo Focal, including Toma McCullim, William Bock, Tomasz Madajczak, Sharondipity, Millie Egan, Muireann Brady, and Tich Breathnach. The project is one of the events for Skibbereen Arts Festival, which takes place until October 28.
"We brought them together, as I knew they were interested in kind of making that invisible realm visible. What I mean by 'invisible realm' is that in Irish, there's this word, ceantar, that would mean location or place," says Winters.
"But every ceantar has its twin, called the alltar, in the supernatural realm. I find that amazing as a notion, but I think it's a familiar one to visual actors, because we're all after trying to share things we feel, but they aren't necessarily visible.
"Irish, this ancient language, in common with other ancient languages, found ways of seeing these things. And by putting them up in a town with an image, putting words or these collections of images that illuminate words, in maybe surprising ways, what you're trying to do is tap into the cultural memory of the town, and bring the language back to the marketplace - Skibbereen being a market town."
Over 600 photographs ended up being taken, each providing a different perspective and set of circumstances when dealing with each word - from Cliatha Fís' tender interpretation of a place of inspiration, to the plenty provided by nature as illustrated by Bó Fhionn.
"It means the mother goddess, who bestows her milky bounty on the world, and it'd be the River Boyle. In ancient Ireland, a lot of the rivers were like river goddesses. So we put a huge image of white, flowing cows up on the wall, on a hoarding in the middle of Skibbereen on Market Street.
"I love how men gather there to admire the cows, and pat them. They're engaging then with the sacred cows, which is delightful!"
One set of photos, in particular, is drawing reactions from the public in Skibbereen: Bláthscaoileadh - 'shedding petals' - deals with menstruation in profound yet irreverent fashion, summarising the endgoal of the entire project.
"It's interesting because we would have put up the images ourselves, and as I was crossing the road (after they went up), I was watching the traffic as it was passing, and one person noticed, then people notice someone else noticing. It got very giddy reactions, that one has inspired a lot of fun. Not at all the kneejerk response.
"And I thought that would be just women. Women are really enjoying it, but it's not, because on Sunday, we were photographing it and waiting for others, and the men were having such a laugh. And it's a great way of kind of checking in - we have come so far, we're not back where we were five years, ten years ago."
- Photo Focal's exhibition will be in public spaces around Skibbereen for the coming weeks. Presented in association with Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, as part of Skibbereen Arts Festival
