Artist(s): Martina Coyle
Location: Belmullet
Title: The Silver
Medium: Film installation
Date: 2006
Materials: 4 screen video installation and sound work
Dimensions:
Description: Filmed in real-time, the sun-set off An Fál Mór, could appear as a large still life photograph, yet while you watch, the landscape gradually changes with multifarious variations in light and the slow movement of clouds, thus setting the pace of The Silver. Juxtaposed to this are three other video pieces, two, filming the movement of boats between the Islands and the Mainland and the third representing presence on the Island. Martina aims to capture the psyche of place and of the people through generations attuned to the minute changes in the light and the elements. There is a mesmeric rhythmic feel to the work, setting a quiet melodic pace, a feeling of time passing and of the inextricable continuity of life in this exposed and isolated peninsula. The reflective mood is enhanced by a soundtrack of voices from the community, oral recordings using the Irish language as testimony of distinctive speech rhythms and place names particular to the locale.
