Programme

An Leabhar Mór: The Great Book of Gaelic


Project Partner:
Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Gaelic Arts Agency

Contact:
www.glucksman.org

Date: 1 February – 23 April 2005
Venue: Lewis Glucksman Gallery


Project Description:

That Ireland shares a mythology, a rich music tradition, three languages and some significant history with Scotland is a fact of which most people are only vaguely aware. A great deal of what has been an enduring connection; however, has been glossed over or deliberately obscured. Amidst the ebb and flow of history, the ‘Book of Kells’ has become a fixed symbol of the complexity and sophistication of the shared culture that produced it.

The Great Book of Gaelic was an initiative of the Gaelic Arts Agency that brought together the work of more than 200 poets, visual artists and calligraphers from Scotland and Ireland to create a major contemporary artwork in the form of a visual anthology. The 100 Gaelic poems were nominated by leading poets and writers such as Seamus Heaney, Hamish Henderson and Alistair Macleod. The selection featured work from almost every century from the 6th to the 21st and included the earliest Gaelic poetry in existence.

A 100 visual artists – 50 from each country – were commissioned to respond to the poetry in a variety of media. The artists included Brian Maguire, Anthony Haughey, John Byrne, Alan Davie, Frances Hegarty, Mick O’Kelly, Katherine Boucher Beug, Hughie O’Donoghue, Rita Duffy, Sean Hillen, Mary Kelly, Catherine Harper, Alanna O’Kelly, Oliver Comerford and Clare Langan.