"Daughters of Inagh" by Antoinette Spillane in the Red Couch Space

 

DAUGHTERS OF INAGH

Antoinette Spillane

An exhibition of work created at the mouth of the River Inagh

(From a collection called Motherline)

Family names are carried along the father's line, but our blood comes down through the mother's line like rivers through the landscape, bringing the mother's accent and ways of seeing things. Mother's wit, mother's tongue, mother's music; all come from the mother's way of beeing.

The same way as the local river carries the essence of all that grows along her banks, and the music of all the lives and that were formed and sustained by her waters.

Making shapes on the river beach, of mother and daughter, of grandmothers. Seeing the bodies crack, change and dissolve. Thinking of her capacity to give birth, of the woman's mouth, her kiss, her voice, her presence, her dress....

Then looking at the play of the water and light around a form that changes every moment, seems to shift perception towards the feeling or spirit of what's happening inside, rather than the form things take outside.

The name Inagh comes from Eidhneach which means Ivy. According to the ogham alphabet of the Druids, the Ivy tree embodies the intertwining qualities of love of the heart.

This work is in honour of my mother Inagh McNicholas

And in honour of the river Inagh and all her sons and daughters.