“The Hollow”

 Cavan artists Jackie O’Neill & Michelle Harton decided last December to embark on researching local folklore and the idea of a collaborative project was born.

There is a tendency for a lot of people to shut off when they hear dates and history about a place, perhaps it goes back to being in school and being bored, but a good folklore story is hard to forget. Our idea was to look at local history and try to understand the local folklore and create a body of artwork inspired by it.  We wanted to make the work contemporary so that people would come to the stories in a fresh light and hopefully the folklore would be passed on another generation.

We set off on our journey speaking to local characters from all over Cavan listening to tales that had been passed down to them & now luckily passed on to us. Some stories we heard were more recent and straight from the horse’s mouth. We looked through the archive in Cavan library and made a trip to the folklore collection in UCD where they have a rich archive of interviews recorded from characters all over Cavan who have since past away but their views on this world and the other world will live on in this wonderful collection.

So what is folklore & what does it mean to this county (our home)? 

We came across a lot of association with the giants believed to have existed in pagan times known as the Tuatha Dé Danann, which Fionn mac Cumhaill  was part of. Geraldine Mc Caughrean wrote in “Sliver Myths And Legends Of The World” that the Tuatha Dé Danann “Came from the giant cities in the sky, they came riding down on the wind, hidden by the magic clouds and the home they chose - for were they not the wisest of the wise? - was Ireland” It is believed that, tired of watching how the humans treated this earth they eventually moved to a world underground. Sightings of supernatural figures, tales of music being heard coming up from the fairy forts in Ireland is often believed to be members of the Danann coming back to visit.

Are the Tuatha Dé Danann “the fairies” so widely referred to in Irish folklore or are the fairies fallen angels? Bob Curran and Andrew Whitson wrote in “A Field Guide to Irish Fairies”; “Those who sat on the fence during the great rebellion in Heaven were thrown out for their indecisiveness. They were given dark and remote places to dwell well away from human habitation”. This leads to the theory that folklore stories stem from Irish peoples long standing religious beliefs & fears. Are the fairies spirits of deceased family members or neighbours coming back to tell us something? Are these stories simply fabricated by adults over the years as a form of entertainment for children before the invention of television or computers? Some stories appear to have stemmed from people trying to make children behave or as a means to keep them safe around lakes and rivers. The darkness of a night before electricity also seems to have played its part as many say most of the folklore stories stopped after the introduction of electric lighting.  But perhaps the fairies just became more careful about being seen. 

Whatever the explanation, we believe the local fascination with folklore notions and storytelling is a healthy one. Bunda Hunt who grew up in Bawnboy in the late 19th century, went on to be a successful writer in the UK and said when asked about Cavan folklore “Superstition in a race is merely the proof of imagination, the people lacking fairy lore must also lack intelligence and wit”. 

We have taken great joy in responding visually to some of the stories we’ve collected. Through the medium of paint, illustration & embroidery we have created this body of work entitled “The Hollow”. We would like to thank the many local people who kindly shared their knowledge. We would also like to thank Cavan County Council, Cavan Arts Office & Cavan County Museum for their support  and belief in us throughout this project.