Skullhouse, blue men and sewing
Hi, Anne-Marie here.
The skull house at Cooly in Donegal, Ireland is a place I walk to regularly, and last summer I had an experience there that I cannot explain. I saw two blue men there, just their heads, hovering in the air in front of me. They seemed to be from very long ago, and they stayed only a few moments. There was a feeling of watchfulness and wariness from them. The scientist in me cannot explain this and yet it happened. That experience is what drives my interest in thin places, – places where there is a rift or an opening to somewhere else. And I guess there is an uncanny link to the idea of a (doll)house, a connection manifesting through this residency that I could not have foreseen.
In the weeks since I posted last, I’ve been sewing onto yellow sacks. The sacks came from a neighbour and held ewe nuts, or sheep food. I’m sewing with cutouts of clothing from different stages of my life, clothes I held onto but would never wear again: my wedding dress, a sun smock from Mexico amongst others. The reasons for this aren’t clear to me yet, I’ll do the work and figure it out later! But is seems be part recounting, part summoning and a part exorcism.
The sewn bags might yet become the subject of more video work, it’s all a work in progress.
Anne-Marie McKee