Grief Spell by Ceara Conway

2024, HD Video, 7 min, 06 sec loop

Commissioners: Video Ealaín na Gaeltachta, Sound piece Maynooth University

Grief Spell is an art work about a time when I experienced great loss and my desire to express that feeling of being overcome by and going through a period of grief.  In the vocal piece I am speaking to myself retrospectively, teling myself all  the ways in which this grief will work it's way through me. The performance was inspired by reading of a Norse tradition of naming people who were grieving 'cinderbiters’. Members of the community unable to participate in the usual activities of ‘’normal life’’, would sit by the hearth, and over time their clothes, feet and hands would become stained by ashes. The ashes were a visual symbol to the rest of the community that they were to be left alone, to be treated more gently, during this ‘grief spell’.  Central to the work, is the universal experience of loss.

Ceara Conway: Vocals/Harmomium/Performance: Kevin Murphy: Cello: Matthew Nolan: Synth and Electric Guitar

Recommended viewing:

Best viewed on a large screen with speakers or headphones. Click play and then click on the video to enlarge to full screen.

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