A photograph of the Great Blasket Island in the 1930s taken by Thomas H. Mason of Dublin. L-R: Domhnall Mharas Eoghan Bháin Ó Conchuir and Pádraig ‘Ceaist’ Ó Catháin.
The definitive exhibition of photographs of life on the Blasket islands opens in St. John’s Theatre in Listowel on Saturday 9 August 2014.
‘An Island Portrait’ has been developed by The Great Blasket Centre and www.curator.ie to accompany the publication by Collins Press of a book of photographs of the Blasket Island. The text was written by Micheál de Mórdha (Director) and Dáithí de Mórdha (Archivist) and the photographs were edited by Ciarán Walsh of ww.curator.ie. The exhibition contains 50 photographs dating from 1892 onwards and it combines classic ‘outsider’ views of the islanders and their way of life with photographs from family albums. The ethnographic look is counterbalanced by personal and, at times, intimate glimpses of family life on the island.
Gearóid Cheaist Ó Catháin, the last child to live on the Great Blasket Island with Dáithí de Mórdha, The Great Blasket Centre, in front of a photograph of Gearóid with his Grandfather Maurice Mhuiris Ó Catháin, taken by Dan MacMonagle after the Island was evacuated in 1953.
Jocelyne Dudding, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge and Ciarán Walsh of www.curator.ie in the foyer of the British Museum in London.
It’s a big claim, but papers presented by Jocelyne Dudding and Ciarán Walsh at the Anthropology and Photography conference in the British Museum (May 2014) have challenged the chronology of the early development of British anthropology and Haddon’s role in it.
Dudding and Walsh have been working on the ‘Haddon In Ireland’ project for the past 6 months, focussing on photographic and manuscript collections that are held in Cambridge – in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), the Haddon Library and the University Library.
They presented preliminary finding of their research at a conference organised by the Royal Anthropological Institute and the British Museum. The research, part funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland, is part of a project that is attempting to reconstruct the archive of the Irish Ethnographic Survey of 1891-1903.
The photographic record of the the Survey, the photograph albums of Charles R. Browne, were published by www.curator.ie in 2012 as part of the the ‘Irish Headhunter’ project. The albums are held in TCD but there was no trace of any paperwork that could place them in context. The search moved to Cambridge and significant work has been done in the photographic collections of the MAA and the Haddon Papers in the Haddon and University Libraries there.
Preliminary findings suggest that the Survey, established by Haddon and Cunningham in TCD in 1891, played a much greater role in Haddon’s transition from Zoology to Anthropology than had previously been thought. The photographic record, correspondence and journal entries reveal a lot about Haddon’s role in the survey with significant implications for the history of the early development of anthropology.
These are being teased as the ‘Haddon in Ireland’ project continues with the re-construction of the archive of the Irish Ethnographic Survey.
www.curator.ie has commenced work on a project that promises to significantly rewrite the history of the early development of anthropology. Supported by a grant from the Heritage Council of Ireland, the initial phase of the ‘Haddon In Ireland’ project comprises of an assessment of unpublished photographs and manuscripts held in the Haddon Library and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) in Cambridge, in partnership with Aidan Baker, Librarian at Haddon, and Jocelyne Dudding, Manager of Photographic Collections at the MAA.
Aidan Baker, Margaret Rishbeth (granddaughter of Alfred Cort Haddon) and Ciarán Walsh at the launch of the ‘Irish Headhunter’ exhibition in the Haddon Library in 2013.
Ciaran Walsh, www.curator.ie, and Jocelyne Dudding of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University have put together a panel of speakers that ensures a strong Irish dimension to a major conference on the role of photography in anthropology. The panel will include Dáithí de Mórdha of Íonad an Bhlascaoid Mhóir and Mark Maguire, Head of Anthropology in NUIM (National University of Ireland, Maynooth). It will focus on the photography of Alfred Cort Haddon and examine the importance of the Irish Ethnographic Survey of 1891-1903 in terms of a contemporary understanding of the history of anthropology and photography.
The Royal Anthropological Institute has organised the conference in conjunction with the British Museum’s Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. The aim of the Conference is to stimulate an international discussion on the place, role and future of photography.
Солнечный водонагреватель своими руками
The ‘ Irish Headhunter’ exhibition organised by www.curator.ie got a remarkable response from anthropologists working in Ireland. The project was featured in the Irish Journal of Anthropology and the exhibition was shown in the National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM) which has the only Anthropology Department in the state. This switched the focus from the 1890s to the present and, in this feature commissioned by the Irish independent Newspaper editor Katie Byrne, Ciarán Walsh explores the role of contemporary Irish anthropologists. It features extracts from interviews with Mark Maguire, Head of Anthropology in NUIM; Nicola Reynolds, President of the Anthropology Society NUIM; Fiona Murphy, Dublin City University School of Business and, Patrick Slevin of Applied Research for Connected Health (ARCH). Each of the contributors outlines what they see as the main challenges facing Irish society in 2014 from an anthropological perspective.
See: http://irishindependent.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx (Weekend Magazine)
www.curator.ie is participating in a conference on anthropology and photography being organised by the RAI (Royal Anthropological Institute) in the British Museum, London, on 29th- 31st May 2014.
Ciarán Walsh is a member of a panel being convened by Dr Jocelyne Dudding of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge University. The panel came together as a result of the ‘Headhunter’ project being shown in Cambridge University in September followed by the National University of Ireland Maynooth in October 2013. Dr. Mark H. Maguire, Dept. of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth and Dáithí de Mórdha of Ionad an Bhlascaoid Mhóir (The Great Blasket Centre) will also be taking part. Dáithí is co-curator of the ‘Headhunter’ project.
The panel will be examining the importance of photography in the Ethnographic Survey of Ireland of 1891-1903 in the context of social, cultural and political issues that framed anthropology in Ireland in the 1890s and, continue to influence it to this day.
Sheol rí caide na Ríochta, agus oileánach aitheanta, Mick O’Connell, ó Dhairbhre, taispeántas úrnua grianghraif a thugann léargas iontach ar phobal an Bhlascaoid Mhóir idir na bliantaibh 1892 agus 2010, in oifigí na Roinne Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta ar an mBóthar Nua, Cill Áirne, ar an gCéadaoin, 30/10/2013, ag 18.30 mar pháirt d’imeachtaí Oireachtas na Gaeilge 2013. Is é seo an chéad uair atá an bailiúchán seo á thaispeáint lasmuigh den nGaeltacht.
Is é atá sa taispeántas seo, arna chur le chéile ag Ionad an Bhlascaoid agus Ciarán Walsh ó www.curator.ie, rogha de na pictiúir ar fad atá i gCartlann an Ionaid. Cuireadh an taispeántas seo le chéile mar cheiliúradh ar fhiche bliain a bheith caite ó bhunú an Ionad. Tógadh Ionad an Bhlascaoid Mhóir i 1992–93 agus ó shin i leith táthar tar éis cnuasach an-luachmhar de phictiúir a tógadh de lucht an Bhlascaoid a chur le chéile i Leabharlann an Ionaid agus is ann anois atá an cnuasach is mó ar domhan de phictiúir den mBlascaod nó go deimhin d’aon phobal in Iarthar na hÉireann.
Deir Stiúrthóir an Ionaid, Micheál de Mórdha, gur “bronnadh roinnt mhaith pictiúir orainn le fiche bliain anuas, cuid acu gur cóipeanna de phictiúir as mhór-chnuasaigh eile iad, agus níl aon bhiaiste nach dtagann tuilleadh pictiúir ón mBlascaod in ár dtreo. Bain lán do shúl astu, a dhuine, mar go bhfuil os do chomhair anseo taifead de phobal suaithinseach, nach bhfuil ar marthain de ach dornán beag daoine, mar go bhfuil a bhformhór sa chré agus sinn ag druidim go tréan leis an seascadú bliain ó bhailigh na daoine leo amach as an mBlascaod Mór.”
Ag cur leis sin dúirt an Mórdhach: “Ceapaim go gcuirfidh an taispeántas leis an éagsúlacht mór d’imeachtaí fíor-thaitneamhacha atá i gclár An tOireachtas 2013, atá ar bun i gCill Áirne arís i mbliana, is go dtabharfaidh sé éachtaint eile fós ar an saibhreas oidhreachta atá againn anseo sa Ríocht.”
Léirítear ann pobal an oileáin agus iad i mbun a ngnóthaí laethúla ar muir is ar tír, ag iascaireacht, ag feirmeoireacht, iad i mbun tí agus ag friotháil ar chuairteoirí. Tá oileánaigh mór-cháile ina measc, leithéidí Thomás Ó Criomhthain, Mhuiris Ó Súilleabháin & Pheig Sayers, maraon le grianghraif a thóg cuairteoirí mór le rá ar nós John Millington Synge, Carl Von Sydow agus teaghlach MacMonagle Chill Áirne.
Tá an taispeántas le feiscint in árus na Roinne oscailte ó Luan go hAoine idir 0915 agus 1730.
BREIS EOLAIS:
Dáithí de Mórdha – Ionad an Bhlascaoid – 0669156444 – daithi.demordha@opw.ie
Mícheál de Mórdha – Ionad an Bhlascaoid – 0669156444 – micheal.demordha@opw.ie
Ciarán Walsh – www.curator.ie – 087 2370846 – curator.ie@gmail.com