March was a little busier than usual. I was back in Cork to give a talk about my practice , alongside fellow artist, Joy Gerard. The following week, I was invited to participate in a panel discussion at Belfast Exposed Gallery in Belfast which was hosting Gwen Stevenson's Memorial/Unmemorial exhibition as part of the Imagine Festival of Ideas and Politics and finally, my extended interview for the Talk 4 Peace initiative was made available online. So much talking about memory and memorials made me reflect on the different aspects of commemoration - the public and private faces of remembering. How do those we remember privately become entangled in our wider understandings (or performances) of remembering the dead? How much is too much and what should we hold back of our own grief less we trigger another? What arose out of all of these discussions, for me, was that if one speaks authentically and with empathy then the experience of mourning can be shared and expanded beyond the personal into wider political domains. This March, I remembered my mother who passed thirty years ago. She never saw the political changes here, she only knew the Troubles. The legacy she left with me is how to endure them with hope. Therefore I hope that everyone has someone, or the memory of someone , that can sustain them through difficult times.
RSS Feed