Wild Swans 'Forgotten Places' Performance Art took place between Spain and Fanad Co. Donegal in May-September 2020. The project was an introduction to performance art in the North West of Ireland, making it accessible to a wider general audience. It was showcased via the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny and funded by Creative Ireland and Donegal County Council and supported by Bbeyond Performance Art, Belfast.
‘Steeped, was a word she used’
that first cut of granite, scraped and shaped, was put on boats
and floated out on a buoyant ocean, followed by sons and daughters
eleven babies scooped out, delivered
left an unseen wound in a small woman
with an independent spirit
whose sacrifice was unrequited
no one heard
as hers was not the sanguine or bullish story
that this new republic cared for
on second thoughts
there are many ways to cut out a tongue and poverty is one
my mother grew steeped in it
she rose out of this submerged language and sense of otherness
she saw herself in rock pools and sheets of wet sands, as an elemental force
her skin taut over protruding wrist bones and strong calf muscles
barefoot and untamed with a mane of copper
un-belonging
she didn’t take the garments given to her by church and state
late at night
she sewed gowns of autonomy and liberty and wore them in solidarity
she hurled ideas of family law and rights for women
like boulders out into a sea of tuts
my grandmothers table stands here in the tides of time
in ebbs and flows
cyclical rhythms and measurements that women understand
forget me not, I hear her say
Bernadette Hopkins ‘Forgotten Places’ Performance Fanad. Co.Donegal 08/08/2020
that first cut of granite, scraped and shaped, was put on boats
and floated out on a buoyant ocean, followed by sons and daughters
eleven babies scooped out, delivered
left an unseen wound in a small woman
with an independent spirit
whose sacrifice was unrequited
no one heard
as hers was not the sanguine or bullish story
that this new republic cared for
on second thoughts
there are many ways to cut out a tongue and poverty is one
my mother grew steeped in it
she rose out of this submerged language and sense of otherness
she saw herself in rock pools and sheets of wet sands, as an elemental force
her skin taut over protruding wrist bones and strong calf muscles
barefoot and untamed with a mane of copper
un-belonging
she didn’t take the garments given to her by church and state
late at night
she sewed gowns of autonomy and liberty and wore them in solidarity
she hurled ideas of family law and rights for women
like boulders out into a sea of tuts
my grandmothers table stands here in the tides of time
in ebbs and flows
cyclical rhythms and measurements that women understand
forget me not, I hear her say
Bernadette Hopkins ‘Forgotten Places’ Performance Fanad. Co.Donegal 08/08/2020
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