How you deal with the “Other” – it’s not easy

Well, first I want to mention that The Palimpsest /Rianú Project will be exhibited at The Pearse Museum in St. Enda’s, Rathfarnham from next week. This is the project that we brought to Artisterium VI in Tbilisi, Georgia last year. Then it was shown at An Gailearaí in Gweedore but this final version, I think, will be the most interesting.

No, it wasn’t easy. The idea of the project was to explore how we deal with the ‘other’ in our lives – other people, other ethnic groups, other nations – so a collaborative project between artists seemed particularly relevant. Yes, it could’ve been a bit tricky – you know artists – obsessed, obscure, oblivious… preoccupied, precocious, presumptuous… I could go on – but actually I’d have to say that, after a long and complicated journey, it worked out really well in the end. I think we all gained a lot from encountering the varied working methods and creative processes of the other artists. Those involved were:  Brian Fay, Mary A.Fitzgerald, Ian Joyce, Colin Martin, Aoife McGarrigle, Kate Murphy and Nuala Ní Fhlathúin. The project was initiated by Cló and the Living Archive and it was organised by Claire Halpin and myself.

Cló and the Living Archive is an artist-led initiative developed by Ian Joyce and Oona Hyland in the Donegal Gaeltacht. We are also grateful for the support of An Gailearaí in Gweedore and Ealaín na Gaeltachta, and we were especially pleased to get the support of the Pearse Museum. It’s an apt location for our grande finale because of Patrick Pearse’s particular interest in bi-lingual education. Also, as some of you know, my own family’s history is linked to this building, I remember my Dad bringing me here as a child, but that’s another story…

 

Músaem na bPiarsach / The Pearse Museum*

 

Anyway, Simon Harris TD, Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, will be opening this exhibition on Saturday, the 6th of September. I’ll be sending out invitations in the next few days. If you’re in Ireland, I hope you can make it. But wait, I didn’t tell you how to deal with the ‘other’ ones, did I?  Hmmmm, well you might have to look further than St.Enda’s for that – this is a blog about art – but I’m sure there will be some ‘gems of wisdom’, some Seoidíní Eolais, but then, I wouldn’t presume…

You can read about the other iterations of the project at:

http://emacl.com/index_files/page0036.htm

https://emacl.wordpress.com/2014/05/

and on other links:

http://clairehalpin2011.wordpress.com/

http://www.angailearai.com/

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/Dublin/PearseMuseum-StEndasPark/

http://www.clo.ie/

PS: the image at the top is of one of the collaborative pieces. Eight artists had a hand in producing the final result!  The first artist produced an initial image and then emailed it on to the second artist who worked over it and emailed it on to the third artist and so on until everyone had contributed. Such fun…

*(original photo of museum from: southdublinlibraries.ie)