Sticks and Stones

John Kelly​

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Extracts from Sticks and Stones by Cork-based, Australian artist, John Kelly.

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"The jagged, angular rocks and fissures that form the rugged coastline of South Reen push their way up out of the sea revealing millions of years of geological history. Climbing Ceim Hill and looking back over Castlehaven one can see The Stags in the distance, like a romantic castle. From Myross Cemetery, I paint High and Low Island. I am told Low Island used to be a cemetery also – The Island of the Dead".

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"Tall weathered sticks[1] stand sentinel on the cliff-top as a reminder of another history, the one recorded by N.M. Cummins, whose famous 1846 letter tells of the consequences of An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger) on this fertile peninsula where I have lived for the past decade".

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[1] The Sticks are the remnants of a sculpture, 'Tree Sentinel', by Susan O’Toole.

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