ANÁIL NA BEATHA- WORK FOR ALANNA O'KELLY
Created by visual artist Alanna O'Kelly, Anáil na Beatha was a live, site-specific performance held at the ruins of Schull Workhouse, West Cork in July 2018. O'Kelly described how the performance would run 'as a series of vignettes that will reference some of the stories of the Great Hunger in West Cork, both historic and contemporary.' O'Kelly developed the project with people in the locality and through collaboration with other artists, musicians and writers including Libby Seward, Mícheál Moley O Súilleabháin, Karen Minihane, Cormac Begley and Pól Brennan.
A vocal group was formed for the performance and, following a series of workshops in Skibbereen Arts Centre, I assisted O'Kelly in devising material for this group and conducted the singers for the event itself. I also collaborated with O'Kelly and Pol Brennan to record cello tracks for the performance, see recordings below.