Ceramics
Fionn Ó Tuama
Scéal Céim an Fhia
As children, we effortlessly inhabit a space between reality and imagination, moving fluidly between both in response to the input from our surroundings and those around us. Storytelling traditions facilitate this, echoing across every culture.
My childhood in rural Cork was filled with storytelling that was passed down as part of the rich local aural tradition of this Gaeltacht region of Mhuscraí. The landscape is punctuated with incident and narrative, and we form a sense of identity around these landscapes and the stories they hold.
This work follows the origins of Céim an Fhia, a place-name outside my home village of Ballingeary. The story is centred around a deer who leapt over a narrow valley to escape a raft of hunters and carried on around 3 neighbouring mountains which subsequently are named after the events that took place on each of them: Dubhchoill, Damhas and Séithe. Through ceramic, video projection and sound this installation captures the landscape, the human interaction of imagination and oral tradition, showcasing these unique aspects of human nature and Irish culture.