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.
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monastery ruins at Abbeylara |
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The very worn sheela at Abbeylara |
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Taghmon Church, Crookedtown |
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Sheela-na-gig over the window at Taghmon Church |
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Taghmon Church sheela |
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Sheela at the county museum |
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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!
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