PORTRÁIDÍ CRIATHRAIGH/Bog Portraits, a film about the creation of landscape installation artwork, where bogland at Ros Muc, is transformed into the faces of two iconic Connemara natives, premiers on Monday March 1.
The film follows the creation of portraits of Bridget Aylward, the ‘Queen of Alaska’, and sean nós dancer Cóilín Sheáin Dharach Seoige, by the artist Seán Ó Flaithearta in 2019 and 2020. It was directed by Ríonach Ní Néill and Joe Lee, and is part of Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture.
The bog portraits were commissioned by Ríonach Ní Néill as part of a series of site-specific installations concerning Gaeltacht culture, weather, and landscape for Turas Chonamara, a Galway 2020 project.
Ní Néill and Lee worked with the Ros Muc community to find suitable sites in the bog to create the portraits and to choose two local people. The portraits have been cut into the bog by Ó Flaithearta and look different depending on whether the weather is wet or dry.
Aylward agus Seoige
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Bridget Aylward was born Bríd Ní Mhainnín in 1865 in Ros Muc. She emigrated to North America and made her way to the Yukon where she made her fortune in gold mining and earned the moniker ‘Queen of Alaska’. In her old age she returned to Ros Muc, which was still blighted by poverty, and left her fortune in a foundation for the education of local children. She died in 1958, and her foundation is still giving educational opportunities, three generations on.
Cóilín Sheáin Dharach Seoige only took up dancing in his fifties. In his sixties and seventies he gained recognition as one of the finest exponents of the Connemara style of sean-nós dancing. The style was dying out in the 1980s, but Cóilín inspired a new generation to keep the style alive, and in the years since it has thrived.
Portráidí Criathraigh will premiere on March 1 with two live, online, screenings at 6.30pm and 7.30pm. The 6.30 screening will be followed by a Q&A in English and in Irish with Ní Néill, Lee, and Ó Flaithearta. The 7.30pm screening will be hosted by Oifigigh Pleanála Teanga na Gaillimhe followed by an Q&A as Gaeilge with the artist and directors.
To register for the online screening go to www.turaschonamara.ie
