NEWS
Sift – exhibition at Oriel Y Parc and St Davids Cathedral Refectory
Opening Thursday 23rd February
4-5 pm The Refectory, St Davids Cathedral – David Begley Small Finds
5-7 pm Oriel Y Parc – Seán Vicary, John Sunderland, Sylvia Cullen, Linda Norris
Sunday 26th March 2 – 5.20 pm Light-Boats with Tracy Breathnach, Whitesands Bay, St Davids
Exhbition tours to Wexford County Council Office, Carriklawn 17th April – 19th May. Opening Friday 14th April
Ancient Connections is delighted to announce the opening of an exhibition titled Sift at Oriel Y Parc and the Refectory, St Davids Cathedral on February 23rd. Following this, the show will tour to Wexford town, opening on April 14th at the Wexford County Council offices at Carricklawn.
The six artists included are John Sunderland, Sylvia Cullen, David Begley, who are all based in the east of Ireland and Seán Vicary, Linda Norris and Tracy Breathnach based in the west of Wales.
The exhibition weaves together the themes of journeying, sacred places, ancestral heritage, storytelling and longing for home through photography, animation, sound, participatory arts, text, story, glass and light. The artists have been inspired by the findings of the Ancient Connections wider project. Historical research, folklore and story gathering have revealed deep connections between these two regions and the archaeological excavations and geophysical surveys at Whitesands and in Ferns, Wexford tell a story of travel and connection between Wexford and Pembrokeshire from pre-history to the modern day.
Writer Sylvia Cullen, based in Wexford said:
“It is the sea which connects us” – These were the words which resonated most deeply with me, when researching this commission. Writing and recording a quartet of new short stories in response to several of the Ancient Connections themes was the focus of my work. Most of the characters and worlds which emerged were informed by lives and events connected to the seawaters linking Pembrokeshire and North Wexford.
Multi-media artist Seán Vicary has created a new video installation and said:
My work responds to a month spent working alongside Dyfed Archaeological Trust during the excavation of an early medieval cemetery threatened by imminent coastal erosion at St Patrick’s Chapel, Whitesands. I have used moving image, field recordings and animation to reflect on this experience and examine resonances between the archaeological and artistic processes.
Tracy Breathnach was invited by Ancient Connections to create a participatory event at Whitesands Beach to commemorate all those buried in the early mediaeval cemetery at St Patrick’s Chapel. This free event will take place from 2- 5.20 pm on Sunday 26th March and is open to anyone. Tracy says: ‘Participants will create a simple palm-sized willow boat, filled with a tiny bundle of native plants to place on the beach for the tide to take out. Placing a light with each tiny boat, symbolically, this may represent thoughts, wishes, hopes and prayers for those living and those who have passed’.
Please book a slot through Eventbrite link here
David Begley has been artist in Residence with Ancient Connections since 2020. His research into medieval farming practices, St Aidan of Ferns, medicinal plants, medieval manuscript and ink making, as well as contemporary farming and healing practices in Ferns have inspired David’s current body of work Small Finds in drawing, painting and video which will be on display in the Refectory at St Davids Cathedral.
Linda Norris has created a light and glass installation featuring a virtual dresser that incorporates poetry written by participants from Pembrokeshire and Ireland inspired by found ceramic shards and sandblasted onto glass pieces. Linda says:
In essence, the work imaginatively investigates powerful human connections across time and landscapes. These tiny shards provide a portal into other lives and places, and journeying there inspires us to reflect on our own.
In his series of lightboxes titled Unheimlich, John Sunderland documents the new pilgrimage route from Ferns to St. David’s, imagining how someone from the mediaeval period would have reacted to these landscapes, as they were then and how they are today. He has photographed scenes that epitomise these reflections.
