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Memories

Artists find an opportunity for older and younger people to work together. Memories are shared and illustrated.

This second residency of Sightings in Roslea, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland involved a group of older people from an Age Concern group and a fluctuating group of youths from the nearby secondary school. The unfortunate timing of this project during the time of rigorous exams meant that there were few students who could commit to the project. Yet this gave the artists a chance to focus on working with the older people.

The Carn Court Age Concern Group meets in a building about a 5 minutes walk from the secondary school. The artists felt that if this was better-timed, an opportunity exists to work intergenerationally.

Each week, sessions began with an exercise in remembering. Questions such as 'What is your earliest memory?' brought up imagery from which they would draw, paint or print during the sessions each week.

In training sessions outside the workshops, the artists began to play with the responses and phrases, animating them and collaging them with images, until they realized the power of the words alone, and the imagery within them. Mentions of a barefoot May Day and mashed potato with a raw egg in it give subtle hints to another time and place without seeing or hearing the speaker.

Now, we would like to develop the Memories animation to allow visitors online to share their memories, and let those mingle together. We look forward to seeing how this evolves with different languages and references.


Each session began with gathering memories.


A woman was reminded of a blue dress her mother wore, adding details such as the rhinstones.


Seeing an open hearth sparked discussion about things you no longer see, that were once such basics of life.