My ancestors were Quigleys and Dooleys from County Offaly and County Galway, who came over to work in England in the 1930’s. As a young boy, every few years – when we could afford it – we’d make a trip home to visit distant relatives, meeting a myriad of cousins, aunties and uncles. On these trips, there was always an opportunity to pose for a family photograph on the Cliffs of Moher or to kiss the Blarney Stone, to visit a seminary or a wake, to collect Holy Water from a sacred well or leprechaun figurines or turf from the bog for fireside chatting. In England, I attended a Preparatory School run by the Sisters of Mercy and then a Grammar school run by the Marist Brothers. (When I tell people this, with my particular Midlands accent, they leave with the impression I was schooled by the Maoist Brothers…)

The original title for this project was ‘With Hindsight’, which referred to an exhibition in 1993 at the Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Put together by Martin Parr, David Lee and Joe Lee, the exhibition was called ’Hindesight‘ and consisted of Irish postcard images from the Fifties and Sixties created by John Hinde. These images have resonated down the decades, creating a particular touristic and idealistic view of rural Ireland. Indeed, many of these postcards ended up in our English home. They did not reveal the old Ireland of poverty and hardship that migrants attempted to leave behind. Caribbee Island was an area of cheap housing in Wolverhampton for many of these early migrants: it was described by a local newspaper in 1849 as an ‘open gutter occupied by the lowest class of Irish.’

Rewalking these old paths – ‘as people continue to write about their past with relish, nostalgia or bitterness’ – this project was an exploration of and homage to Irish roots and image of the Emerald Isle. Sláinte! The material was worked into a small publication, and a special presentation made at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in March 2009 as part of ‘Fresh Perspectives’ – a programme of music, talks and art activities that addressed Northern Irish heritage and Culture.

Here are some page examples. And a sample short story to download… about the terrifically named Baron de Camin, the Marilyn Manson bete noire of all Papists in the 1840′s. (He was a real person…)

Found Objects in a Bungalow, County Clare, Ireland
Entrance Hallway:
Jesus ‘Bless Our House’ key ring holder.

Hallway:
Container for Holy Water (empty) with image of Pope John XXIII.

Bedroom One:
Image of Mary, Mother of God, with Sacred Heart; 3D image of Saint Bernadette kneeling on hillside at Lourdes, with five sheep, before apparition of the Virgin Mary, who is posed like a statue.

Bedroom Two:
Jesus with prominent wounds, cradled in the arms of Mary, in the style of Giotto; Print of Saint Bernadette praying before the apparition of the Virgin Mary, who is beatific with incandescent flames flowing from head.

Bedroom Three:
Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii Ora Nobra, various scenes from the life of Christ.

Kitchen:
Small plastic Virgin Mary; plastic Holy Water bottle, also small; Holographic Virgin Mary, in grotto, surrounded by an abundance of roses; Large portrait of Sacred Heart of Jesus, with stigmata, wall-mounted with flickering red electric light and inscription (not filled in) which reads ‘The Sacred Heart of Jesus has been solemnly enthroned in this home on the _ day of _ 19 _ by the consecration to Him of all the members of the family, present or absent, living or dead etc’; small plastic junior Pope looking character; solid oak crucifix, black varnished.

Living Room:
Books on shelf include:
Fundamental Pastoral Counselling, Techniques and Psychology, J.R. Cavanagh, Milwaukee, stamped Property of Redemptorist Retreat House Limerick;
Notes on the Catholic Liturgies, Archdale A. King, Longmans 1930, stamped Sacred Heart Novitiate ‘Slievoir’ Terryglass, Nenagh;
A Popular Abridgement of The Mystical City of God, Venerable Mary of Agrede, translated from the Spanish, 7th printing, New Jersey, 1981;
Twelve Red Herrings, Jeffrey Archer, Harper Collins 1994;
The Wicked Wit of Oscar Wilde, Centenary Edition, compiled by Maria Leach, London 1994;
Profitable Sheep Farming, M McG Cooper and R.J. Thomas, First published 1965, Revised 1975, Ipswich.