Inis Bearacháin

Tulca, Galway, 2012


The old schoolhouse of Inis Bearacháin, built in the thirties and last used by pupils in the 1960’s, is the site of an artwork that puts a root into the memory of place and invokes a legacy of family trees. The artists, Ackroyd & Harvey, have created a series of unique photographic portraits. Grass grown from seed is the material of their photography; chlorophyll, the green pigment initiating a photochemical response is the primary medium, giving rise to images of a subtly evanescent kind. The seduction of visibility and the inevitability of change are implicit in Ackroyd & Harvey’s photographic work, and by skillfully manipulating grass’s properties and connotations, they articulate and actualize notions of ephemerality, landscape, and memory.

Commissioned as part of Galway County Council’s Public Art Programme.

Video of Inis Bearacháin project