Happy to get their hands dirty to hunt heritage in Glen Park

LAST Friday marked the launch event for ‘Gleann a’ Phúca’, a visionary new climate action arts project focusing on the heritage of Cork’s Glen River Park.

The project was initiated by multidisciplinary Cork-based artist, Julie Forrester, is managed by Claire Ryan, and will be delivered in collaboration with the Glen Resource Centre and The Local Authority Water Programme following three years of planning.

Friday’s launch event took place in The Glen Resource Centre and included a talk and walk in the park with well-known Irish biologist, environmental consultant, author, broadcaster and educator, Éanna Ní Lamhna.

Discussing the launch of ‘Gleann a’ Phúca,’ Artistic Director, Julie Forrester told The Echo: “It was amazing, we had such a good reception, the things that people learned from Éanna were just fantastic, everybody was just so caught up in the stories and the enthusiasm.

She added: “The participants really enjoyed working with inks as well as the materials from the environment like bramble and oak gall ink. People were initially a bit tentative about getting their hands dirty with the natural materials, but everybody came out of it happy.” Julie explains that the event had the desired effect of really making people feel connected to the land, saying: “Being able to touch things and hear the folklore that is being passed down and changed through generations was an incredible experience for everyone involved.”

Two projects, Ordinary Gifts by visual artist Elinor Rivers, and Spoon and Bloom, by illustrators and animators Annie Mar and Aaron Ross, commenced production following the launch, with more in the works.

‘Ordinary Gifts’ intends to enable and encourage participants to increase their understanding of the life of the river through a series of sensory, creative, science based and celebratory activities spread over the course of the year.

“Ultimately the aim is that people will become advocates for the Glen river and rethink what is discharged from their homes as grey water while becoming more aware of local sources of pollution in the river,” said artist Elinor.

“We also intend to look at the international movement for the rights of rivers and environmental personhood through the Universal Declaration of River Rights 2017, while also looking at the relationship we have to rivers in Ireland through the lens of mythology and folklore,” she added.

Through their mapping, drawing and storytelling workshops ‘Spoon and Bloom’ is future-looking but draws from the past, building on Cork people’s intimate relationship with the topography of the park, its natural heritage and what it can and does mean in our lives.

At cross quarterly events, Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasa and Samhain, Spoon and Bloom will conduct excursions in the park, sharing memories and collecting stories along the way.

Their first event will be coming up on October 29, where Annie Mar and Aaron Ross will be collecting stories from people to begin the making of an interactive map from them.

The public are invited to walk around the park and talk about the glen then make some drawings in the inaugural event in the glen’s outdoor classroom, with Julie explaining that they will be “creating a living archive, inviting people to join in and have their contribution, adding that “everyone is welcome, no matter your age or ability, it’s a real free for all”.