Oh, ye dead!

In Clodagh Emoe’s art practice, sculpture, performance art and philosophy hold equal sway, writes Peter Murray


Oh, ye dead!
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At a festival of keening held in Mulranny, Co Mayo in May this year, the author Kevin Toolis compared the rituals that surround death in Ireland, particularly in western counties, with those that nowadays prevail in England. Quoting Homeric sagas, he described a traditional Achill Island funeral, one that he felt represented a tradition stretching back into the mists of time, but was no longer valid in a fast-moving and less caring society. Whatever the truth of his assertions, there is no denying that the traditions of keening and ‘waking the dead’ in Ireland have long held a fascination for tourists, sociologists, writers and artists.

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