‘The Land Where Nothing Is’, at Galerie Michaelastock, Vienna, as part of ‘Embodiment exhibition, 7th September, 2019.

‘The Land Where Nothing Is’, comprises of wall-text, video of poetic text and audio, and a performative reading with audio. For ‘Embodiment’ exhibition, the artist also took part in a talk on the work with artist Lilo Nein. This group exhibition was curated by Michaela Stock and Helen Carey, and supported by Fire Station Artist Studios. Link to more details on exhibition here.

‘Suzanne Walsh’s work, ‘The Land Where Nothing Is’, is a set of concrete poetry made from fragments of lines from the poems of both revolutionary and poet Thomas McDonagh and poet and friend Francis Ledwidge, as well as comments collected from online Irish Facebook groups that discuss housing, environmental issues and wildlife identification. Linking these is the sound of the bittern, due to its connection to McDonagh and Ledwidge, a bird that is currently extinct in Ireland. McDonagh translated the poem ‘The Yellow Bittern’ (Cathal Bui Mac Giolla Ghunna) from Irish to English. After McDonagh’s execution for his part in the 1916 uprising, his friend Francis Ledwidge wrote a poem ‘Lament for Thomas McDonagh’, that begins ‘He shall not hear the bittern cry’. The poems question exclusion, identity, and existence in today’s Ireland.’

Originally this work was commissioned for a show called ‘A Different Republic in the Lab Gallery, Dublin, 2016, for the 1916 centenary as well as 20 year anniversary of the Irish Government’s report on the Status of Peoples with Disabilities ‘A Strategy for Equality’. More on this project and original exhibition is on this website here.

Video above shows a selection of the artists that took part in ‘Embodiment’.