Preserving a Cork summer ‘for when we need it most’

The facade of Triskel Christchurch on South Main Street is well worth a look every evening until April, 2025, as it’s the location of ‘Winter Sun’, part of the Island City Urban Sculpture Trail, a Cork City Council initiative that integrates contemporary art into daily life.

The artist behind the video, projected onto the front of the 300-year old Georgian building, is Elinor O’Donovan.

Her ten minute-long video is of people enjoying a sunset, inspired by the view at the top of Bell’s Field on Patrick’s Hill.

The heart-warming work, which includes four people on a picnic blanket, a delivery cyclist enjoying a break from work, and an elderly man taking a walk, is a piece of “a warm Cork summer preserved for when we need it most,” says Elinor.

What inspired the work?

“When I was coming up with the idea for ‘Winter Sun’, I first thought of the image of people enjoying a sunset at Bell’s Field. Afterwards, I remembered the John Butts painting (from 1750).”

That painting is of a panoramic view of Butts’ Cork from Audley Place (now known as Bell’s Field.)

“That viewpoint remains a place of reflection and peace for Corkonians,” says Elinor. “My work, ‘continues this tradition of moments of togetherness where we experience taking in the sunset, and even if people have no other connection to each other, they are connected by being there, at that one particular moment in time.”

The work is projection-mapped, a technique where a projected video interacts with the surface of a building.

Elinor filmed it at her Sample-Studios’ space using a green screen.

With artist Mary Whitty, Elinor painted the walls of the studio green and unfurled huge rolls of green paper onto the floor. Green screen is a technique used in filmmaking whereby actors are filmed against a green backdrop which is then edited out using computer editing software. The green grass CGI (computer generated image) background and sunset were made by artist Bassam Al-Sabah.

Elinor hopes that as we navigate the chill of winter, people will be reminded that warmer, brighter days are ahead.

Altogether, there are 12 actors in ‘Winter Sun’, who also include a couple walking a dog and a young guitarist.

Currently in New York, Elinor is at Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn on an artist residency. She is there to research a new project for 2025 with the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh.

“It explores the history of my great-great-great-great aunt Charlotte Grace O’Brien. She was a campaigner in the 19th century on behalf of women emigrating from Ireland to America, to improve living conditions on the journey across the Atlantic.

“Charlotte Grace petitioned the Catholic Church in New York to set up an emigrants’ house in Manhattan, after she had established a similar one in Cobh in 1882. While on the residency here, I’ve been accessing archive materials related to this research, including a letter that she wrote to the Bishop of New York in 1881 and a first edition book of her poetry in the New York Public Library.”

Elinor’s career is going well but she hasn’t forgotten colleagues who are struggling to make art.

“I’ve had a lot of support over the years from when I had my first solo exhibition with Sample Studios back in 2021. I’ve been lucky to have been supported by funding from the Arts Council in the form of bursary awards in the last four years. I am also a recipient of the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme which will end next September. Having that financial support has afforded me a lot of stability in my work and I now work as an artist full-time.”

Elinor is involved in Praxis: The Artists’ Union of Ireland because she wants to use some of her time to support other artists. She is now secretary of the union.

“I bring this up because it means that I regularly see the things that artists are struggling with in Ireland. One of the biggest things is the lack of work spaces for artists; studios as well as DIY spaces where artists can experiment and show their work.

“The union is working on a strategy to set industry rates of pay for artists and to get art organisations to commit to paying those rates. There is still a culture of artists working for minimum pay in Ireland, despite work being done by the Arts Council and others to combat this. That culture needs to end.”

In the meantime, visual art culture is integrated into daily life in Cork with the Island City Urban Sculpture Trail, which features five sculptures installed across the city.

In addition to ‘Winter Sun’, the sculptures are ‘Sentinels’ on Carey’s Lane, ‘Boom Nouveau’ on Cook Street, ‘The Face Cup’ at Prince’s Street and Oliver Plunkett Street, and ‘Urban Mirror’ on Cornmarket Street. The sculptures were commissioned after a competitive process supported by the National Sculpture Factory, while ‘Winter Sun’ was selected through an open call.

Elinor welcomes art in outdoor public places.

“There may be some people who don’t feel as if art is for them, or they might not have ever thought about setting foot in a gallery. Public art brings art out into the world, and it’s there for everyone. Someone who might think they’re not interested in art might be surprised that they enjoy it. Or they might not, but that experience is one that they wouldn’t have had were it not for public art.”

See www.islandcitycork.ie