Mionn na Deirfiúr | A sister’s lament

Mionn na Deirfiúr fictions a landscape of longing, with amplified vocals emanating from inside the pots, convincing the viewers to pause and listen as sound transports them to their associations of place. I explore the anthropomorphic vessel to express personal narratives; shaped by change and separation, living away from home for the first time alongside my brother moving to Australia, a sense of loss and emotional separation has became prevalent in my work. This is echoed in the soundscape performing Siúil A Rúin with captured sounds from the coast. Translated to ‘go, my love’, the Irish folk song becomes a personal lament of a popular rendition. 

Engaging with ancestral methods of making and marking, I adopt ancient hand-building techniques and pulverise rocks to create mineral pigments for colouring ceramics. I draw historical reference from utilitarian forms of storage and transportation, specifically Amphorae jars (c. 7000), whilst disrupting and distorting their purpose by placing handles in unconventional positions, subverting the vessels into ambiguous objects that blur past and present.