Work featured My eyes too will turn to stone - Spoken word performance
An entrapment sea Rotating moving image and sound
Altered cages rotating light and shadow, sculpture and sound, immersive installation
An entrapment sea Rotating moving image and sound
Altered cages rotating light and shadow, sculpture and sound, immersive installation
Gateway
35mm
35mm
High tide ebbs whispers towards me
35mm
35mm
An Entrapment Sea
Video Projection rotating in cell
Video Projection rotating in cell
My eyes too will turn to stone
Spoken word performance
Bars, bent, enveloping
An entrapment sea
High tide ebbs
Whispers towards me
[Spoken word extract]
Spike as an Island prison, at the entrance of Cork Harbour was at different points thrpughout the centuries used as a temporary containment point for prisoners awaiting transportation. It is estimated that Spike was first used in this manner during Cromwellian times with an account written by poet Diarmuid Sheáin Bhuí Mac Cárthaigh. referring to Spike Island as a depot for the imprisoned awaiting transportation to American Colonies and Caribbean Islands.[1]Here they would be used as labour slaves undertaking government infrastructure development or aiding the colonists working on farms or plantations. [2]
‘S i nOilean Spic na milte i gcarcar ann... Ag faitheammh le triall go h-iath nach feadadar’
(In Spike Island they imprisoned thousands.. waiting for a journey to an unknown Country
This method of punishment and servitude continued in different forms across different times. With the loss of American colonies by the British, transportation ceased temporarily, resuming in the 1800’s for convicts being sent to Botany Bay, Australia.
Transportation to colonies eventually stopped. However, the process of sending prisoners abroad continued with political prisoners of the 20th Century often being forced into exile and other prisoners being encouraged to choose exile for monetary rewards.
An island is often seen through an idyllic lens, encircled by the untamable forces of the sea, often associated with a nomadic freedom. In this work, I look at the juxtaposition of the sea as a slow impending source of fear, a body of water awaiting to carry prisoners across borders, furthering their entrapment, but in new, unknown lands. Their sentences act as cages which alter across place and time.
[1] ‘Cromwellian Prison 1650’, Spike island Cork,September 2021 www.spikeislandcork.ie/cromwellian-prison-1650,
[2] Ó Donnchadha, T. (ed) 1916. “Amhráin Dhiarmada Mac Seáin Bhuidhe MacCrrthaigh’. Dublin:McGill as cited in C. McCarthy & B. O’ Donnabhain, ‘Too Beautiful for thieves and pickpockets, A history of the victorian Convict Prison on Spike Island’, p 4&5, 2016.
Supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Cork County Council, Sample Studios and Cork Harbour Festival
An entrapment sea
High tide ebbs
Whispers towards me
[Spoken word extract]
Spike as an Island prison, at the entrance of Cork Harbour was at different points thrpughout the centuries used as a temporary containment point for prisoners awaiting transportation. It is estimated that Spike was first used in this manner during Cromwellian times with an account written by poet Diarmuid Sheáin Bhuí Mac Cárthaigh. referring to Spike Island as a depot for the imprisoned awaiting transportation to American Colonies and Caribbean Islands.[1]Here they would be used as labour slaves undertaking government infrastructure development or aiding the colonists working on farms or plantations. [2]
‘S i nOilean Spic na milte i gcarcar ann... Ag faitheammh le triall go h-iath nach feadadar’
(In Spike Island they imprisoned thousands.. waiting for a journey to an unknown Country
This method of punishment and servitude continued in different forms across different times. With the loss of American colonies by the British, transportation ceased temporarily, resuming in the 1800’s for convicts being sent to Botany Bay, Australia.
Transportation to colonies eventually stopped. However, the process of sending prisoners abroad continued with political prisoners of the 20th Century often being forced into exile and other prisoners being encouraged to choose exile for monetary rewards.
An island is often seen through an idyllic lens, encircled by the untamable forces of the sea, often associated with a nomadic freedom. In this work, I look at the juxtaposition of the sea as a slow impending source of fear, a body of water awaiting to carry prisoners across borders, furthering their entrapment, but in new, unknown lands. Their sentences act as cages which alter across place and time.
[1] ‘Cromwellian Prison 1650’, Spike island Cork,September 2021 www.spikeislandcork.ie/cromwellian-prison-1650,
[2] Ó Donnchadha, T. (ed) 1916. “Amhráin Dhiarmada Mac Seáin Bhuidhe MacCrrthaigh’. Dublin:McGill as cited in C. McCarthy & B. O’ Donnabhain, ‘Too Beautiful for thieves and pickpockets, A history of the victorian Convict Prison on Spike Island’, p 4&5, 2016.
Supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Cork County Council, Sample Studios and Cork Harbour Festival