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.
