Going to jail...

I have always been interested in old prisons, so decided to visit Kilmainham Gaol. The design of Kilmainham was influenced by panopticon design (like Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, about which I have done a lot of work), where visual surveillance is used to intimidate prisoners into good behavior. It is a very important site for the Irish, as it is where many political prisoners were jailed during the many struggles for independence from Britain. Probably the most famous inmates were the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, most of whom were executed in the prison yard. There is a very detailed museum explaining this history, and our tour guide gave us an impassioned tour of Irish nationalism and the resulting conflicts.

part of the execution yard

Dublin Contemporary

Without knowing it I scheduled my Dublin trip during Dublin Contemporary 2011, a big city-wide exhibition of contemporary art, sort of a Whitney Biennial Dublin-style. It was in several different locations and also included art in public spaces, and I did not have time to see it all. As is always the case, I loved some works, hated others, was indifferent to many. It seemed to include international artists, but there was definitely a slant towards more political works, especially by Irish artists, and many seemed to address the current economic situation, something much on the minds of the Irish (and the rest of us).

A large bed construction that rocks you while you watch video news feeds

I hated this one... big and crude, about the economic "boat"

Better...

Jannis Kounellis

My favorite piece, a room painted as blackboard with beautiful chalk drawing over everything, including the light switches, Kysa Johnson

detail of Kysa Johnson piece

I kept getting distracted by the old building, a former school, often more interesting than the art.

Greetings from Dublin

I have had a very busy 3 days in Dublin, and am headed home tomorrow, so will try to get caught up before things at home take over... After a hurricane blew through on Sunday night, I left Annaghmakerrrig and artist friends at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre with some regret and lots of fond thoughts of one of my favorite places, and headed to Dublin. My first day was mostly about settling in and cruising around a bit with Jen, a fellow artist who came down with me from TGC. We checked out Grafton Street, the main tourist/shopping zone, visited some yarn stores (did not buy anything, too much scratchy wool), and had a wonderful dinner at The Bank (you guessed it, a former bank).

The next day I checked out Dublin Contemporary 2011, Dublin's version of the Whitney Biennial. More on that tomorrow. Then on to the National Museum to photograph sheela-na-gigs in their collection and get an intriguing sneak peek at the fabulously jammed storage rooms full of ancient stones and other antiquities. The staff were wonderfully nice and I came away with a number of good images for my project.

Today I spent with Jaime, a former student now living in LA, and her family, who are visiting relatives in Carrickmacross and came in on the bus to meet me and spend the day. We went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Kilmainham Gaol, more on that tomorrow.

Now I am sadly packing for my grueling 3-flight trip back to NY tomorrow. Look for a couple more posts when I get home --

Grafton Street

Grafton street (penguins? really? In Ireland?)

Dinner at The Bank

In the storage room at the National Museum

One of my new sheela friends

with Jaime at the Irish Museum of Modern Art

An Irish miscellany

Well, my Roscommon trip was a bust, so no new sheela’s to show now. The museum was closed (summer is over, the guy is part time, lives out in the country, is erratic anyway… yadda, yadda), contrary to posted web info. I could not find 2 of the sites at all in spite of driving all around and asking locals, and the one I found was too worn and high up to see or even photograph. And then it started to pour! So I decided to regroup and focus on the ones I can get close to at the National Museum next week. I changed gears and started a new project in the studio, which is going really well—I think that makes 6 projects in process now!

As my second week here approaches the end, I am sad to think about leaving. It has been beautiful in its own quiet Irish way, and it is hard to have just a short time here. I’m off to Dublin on Monday, and my next post will be from there.

Roscommon street

Cootehill (nearby town)

roadside madonna

"Turf" (dried compressed peat, burned in fireplaces and stoves)

So absentminded car renters won't forget...

path by the lake

Irish farmland

Curious (but shy) Irish cows

wildflowers

favorite spot

In Search of Sheela-na-gigs

My first week here has flown by, and I have launched into a new project. Last year when I was here I became interested in sheela-na-gigs, which are pre-Christian carved figures often found on church or castle walls. They are female figures that are often deliberately unattractive, and are positioned holding their sex wide open. No one is quite sure what their original function was, but speculation among scholars is that they may have been fertility figures or figures used to warn against sexual behavior. They seem to still have some currency as fertility charms, as some women still believe touching them will help them conceive. Their incorporation in churches is particularly intriguing, and the figures have caused quite a bit of controversy in the past, with some damaged or destroyed by overzealous religious folks who found them offensive. Some of the best ones are now in museums, where they are protected. For a long time, most of them were hidden from view. I have been interested in female sexuality in Catholic Ireland for some time, so I've decided to photograph the sheela's and work on a piece that incorporates them with stories of individual women from more recent times. Some of you may know about the women of the Magdalene laundries, the Kerry babies, or the work I did about the Irish Ann Lovett, all stories that may find their way into this piece.

Fortunately there's both a good guide book and a website about the sheela's in ireland (there are about 100 scattered around the country), so I know where to look. So I set out a few days ago to Abbeylara, where there's a ruin of Cisterian monastery with a sheela, and to Crookedtown, where there's one over a window in an old church. It was fun (and scary—still getting used to driving on the left) driving around the countryside and down little lanes to find these places, which often turn out to be in someone's backyard or field. The Abbeylara sheela is so worn I would not have known what it was, the Crookedtown one a little bit better. On the way back I passed the County Cavan Museum, which I found later had 2 sheela's on display. So the next day I went back, and these are two fabulous examples. The lighting conditions were awful and the figures behind glass, but it was very exciting to see them up close.

monastery ruins at Abbeylara

The very worn sheela at Abbeylara

Taghmon Church, Crookedtown

Sheela-na-gig over the window at Taghmon Church

Taghmon Church sheela

Sheela at the county museum

A vivd example at the county museum

Tomorrow I have planned a long day trip to Counties Roscommon and Offaly, some ways away, to search out 6 more sheela's. That will probably be all I can get to until I go to Dublin next week. I've arranged to see and photograph the sheela's in the collection of the National Museum there, some of the best ones still existing. While in Dublin I will also check out the Irish Museum of Modern Art with former student Jaime, who will be in town visiting family. Should be fun!