Cogadh na gCarad 2023

video projection in the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin

‘Cogadh na gCarad/ the War between Friends’ is a project that explores the trauma of the Irish Civil War.  For over a year I have been making charcoal drawings and developing a video projection for the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square, Dublin to coincide with my solo exhibition at the Olivier Cornet Gallery.

This garden is dedicated to the memory of  “all those who gave their lives for the cause of Irish freedom”.  It was officially opened in 1966 on the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.  The garden is intended as a place of quiet contemplation and remembrance.  It was the ideal place to show my video projection.

It happened on three Tuesday evenings (7th, 14th and 21st of March from 7pm till 8pm).  It was the first time an art installation has been allowed here.

Here’s a short video of the event that I made – but I was delighted that Bryan O’Brien of The Irish Times, also featured the event on the newspaper’s YouTube channel (here) on the 18th of March, 2023.

Background:

When reading about the Civil War I was struck by historian Diarmaid Ferriter’s assessment of it as “a small-scale affair” with only about 1400 people killed.  Small perhaps (when compared to 36,000 deaths in the Finnish Civil War around the same time) but for me, 1,400 dead meant that 1,400 families were bereaved and many, many more were traumatised. I decided that I would make 1,400 drawings to commemorate the dead, (to commemorate – from the Latin memorare: to bring to remembrance – and com: altogether) -ie- to bring people together to remember and, in some way, to acknowledge the trauma.  

 

The drawings are not portraits – and not based on actual people who were killed during the conflict.  Each piece is an attempt to represent a soul, someone with dreams and ambitions, someone whose life was cut short.  The series does not pass judgement or take sides.  Who knows today what stance we would have taken – or how we would have acted in the same situation – but I think that it is important to remember the Irish Civil War and to mark it – to remind ourselves that peace should never be taken for granted.

 

The work continues to put other global conflicts in perspective for me.  War is a failure of empathy, a failure of Humanity.  Whatever the cause, when it comes down to it, it’s always some mother’s son, it is somebody’s sister or brother, somebody’s neighbour who is killed.

 

I’m grateful to the Arts Council and the OPW for supporting this project.”

Mar a dúirt mé, bhí an scánnan á theilgean ar thrí Mháirt i ndiaidh a chéile sa Ghairdín: ar an 7ú, 14ú agus an 21ú lá de mhí Márta, 2023 ach bhí sé á thaispeáint sa ghailearaí freisin agus, rud nár luaigh mé, bhí Sarah Ghriallais, amhránaí ar an sean-nós as Muiceanach idir dhá sháile ag gabháil fhoinn ar an scannán

Bhí mé ag obair ar an togra seo ar feadh bliana, togra faoin tráma a d’eascair as an Cogadh Cathartha.

Thosnaigh sé nuair a léigh mé i leabhar le Diarmaid Ferriter gur eachtra beag a bhí ann, “a smallscale event” mar a thug sé air – mar nár maríodh ach tuairim is 1400 duine.  Ach mar gheall ar seo,  thosnaigh mé ar 1400 líníochtaí a chruthú – chun na mairbh a chomóradh agus, ar bhealach éigin, aitheantas a thabhairt don tráma a tharraing sé ar an tír, tráma a raibh tionchar aige ar saol na tíre le fada an lá.

Ní portráidí iad na líníochtaí seo, níl siad bunaithe ar na daoine a fuair bás.  Ní thugann an tsraith taobh amháin nó taobh eile (cé a fhios inniu cén seasamh a bheadh glactha againn ag an am?) ach creidim go bhfuil sé tábhachtach léirsmaoineamh a dhéanamh ar an chogadh seo, an choimhlint idir cairde, chun meabhrú dúinn cé chomh sobhriste is atá an tsíocháin agus cé chomh riachtanach atá sé athmhuintearas a chothú seachas an t-achrann.

Chuir Tristan Rosenstock agallamh orm faoin taispeántas ar An Cúinne Dána ar RTÉ ar an 5ú lá de mhí Márta, 2023

There’s more about this exhibition on the Olivier Cornet Gallery (here) and also in the reviews below …

The War between Friends, Dr Brenda Moore-McCann, Visual Artists’ News Sheet, May-June 2023 edition (Exhibition Profile, page 31)

How artist Eoin Mac Lochlainn exhumes the mass graves of Civil War memory, Niall MacMonagle, What lies beneath, The Independent, 19 March 2023

The Custom House Studios and Gallery, September 2023

Poet Geraldine Mitchell opened the second iteration of the project at The Custom House Studios and Gallery in Westport, Co. Mayo

In the end, the video (which was a collaboration between myself and Filmmaker Don Rorke) was purchased by the OPW for the art collection of the Irish State.  The Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA) acquired four of the drawings from the Olivier Cornet Gallery.