Orchard Stories, 2017

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Commissioned by Age and Opportunity, Bealtine ad the Arts Council of Ireland

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Film, Handmade Paper, Computer, Raspberry Pi, Interactive LED Lights and Audio stories.

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Images courtesy of Tony Kirwan Photography

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Orchard Stories includes a short film, a publication and a temporary Interactive light and Sound Installation. The project was based on personal memory, history and stories, working with persons with Dementia and Alzheimers, their families, and the staff of Orchard Day Care Centre in Dublin. 

 

Using the garden at the Orchard to wander and talk with people, collecting flowers and plant materials, I am interested in how stories and memories are recalled and remembered, how we change, embellish and create new stories from our memories. Each time you recall a memory, it is more like an artist’s impression of the last time you recalled it. A brain with the symptoms of Alzheimers can act like a portal to another world, one where time is not experienced in a linear format. I am intrigued by how the microscopic images of a brain depicting dementia and Alzheimers resembles organic plant material, visually mimicking the twisting roots and tangles of plants and trees. Where these tangles lie in the brain, our stories can become inaccessible or altered. Using multiple pruned branches from the Orchard, this temporary interactive installation celebrates the organic, ever changing memories that form the stories of our everyday lives. With special thanks to the participants and their families.