Forest Culture Tangled Web

A collaborative, deep mapping project of the forest in Lismore.

Deirdre O’Mahony worked collaboratively with groups and individuals in a series of talks, walks and workshops in Lismore starting with a presentation and walk in November 2019, concluding with an exhibition in Feb/March 2020. Using St Carthage Hall as a base, the group returned from investigative trips led by experts in different kinds of woodland management to produce a deep mapping process of the complex human, natural and social ecology of the forests around the Lismore region. The information gathered during the physical experience of the forest was further informed by discussions and weekly workshops in observational and botanical drawing and other ways of recording the forest ecosystem.

Working in Lismore over a three – month period participants researched, recorded and mapped some of the human and non-human histories and traces that still remain on the land, processing the information collectively and individually for an installation and archive exhibition that took place from 29 February to 8 March at St Carthage Hall.

Workshop and Exhibition Participants: Hal Chevasse, Pat Gibney, Mary Harris, Jane Jermyn, Bríd Nowlan, Grace O’ Meara, Eileen Singleton, Anne Walsh, David Harris and Sharon O’Dowd.

Forester Walks led by Tom Kent, Paddy Dwan, Ray Foley and Padraig O’Tuama, additional workshops by Deirdre O’Mahony and Andrew Boyle.

Funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and Lismore Castle Arts