Inis Oírr
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Inis Oírr- the guiding principles to be remembered on the mainland

 

Inis Oírr, my former home, reminds me of all the things that we have known before. A finely threaded link back to the past. What is often described as back to the past is really an aperture to the future. We are in an egg timer that has contracted in the middle to this strangulated position and needs to widen out again to let the fine sands flow freely through, so that memories can exist in the future tense.

Inhibited by an apparent position of freedom and autonomy levered onto us by city living we have forgotten our connection to a lived through and physically won knowledge, attained by long periods of watching, considering and existing in the presence of materials we could use to build our own world.

Stone, sand, seaweed, wrack and later willow; from this a community grew. Materials touchable, tangible and still visible not hidden under plaster, concrete and metal. Air scented with ocean spray not clogged with fumes. Horizons that stretch to infinity not contained within walled limits. We all know this reality. It is contained within us, all that is needed is that we are reminded of its existence.

By learning to build with what we see, to construct from our immediate environment and to mistrust waste we are in a process of remembering.

Inis Oírr is an artery of material knowledge tenderly held by ageing hands.

Hope It Rains | Soineann nó Doineann arna chruthú ag Ríonach Ní Néill, arna léiriú ag Ciotóg, arna choimisiúnú ag Gaillimh 2020, Príomhchathair Chultúir na hEorpa.


Hope It Rains | Soineann nó Doineann is created and curated by Ríonach Ní Néill, produced by Ciotóg, and commissioned by Galway 2020, European Capital of Culture.