There was palpable tension as Léann Herlihy stood a the midway of the concrete steps with a band-saw blade hovering between her legs swinging it above the line of opened Russian dolls that stand on each step all the way to the ground below. I held my breath as I waited for her next move. I wondered if I needed to move the audience out of the way but I also trusted that she wouldn't harm us. Still here she was. Us staring at her in an animal muzzle as we had been for the past 20 minutes or so and now in this moment, when we were hooked into her presence she asserted her power over us. Teasing us with the idea of the blade bounding down the steps as it had previously when she cut the tape that bound the blade into a figure of eight. As it released, the tension made it bounce and land on the steps below.
But she didn't throw the blade and we were safe again. Breathe out.
The muzzle is released and Herlihy moves towards us descending the step, the band-saw safely over her shoulder. She squats at the bottom of the steps and introduces the dolls as her mother, her mothers mother, her mothers mothers mother, her mothers mothers mothers mother....her mothers mothers mothers, mothers mothers mothers mothers mothers mothers mothers mother.
But she didn't throw the blade and we were safe again. Breathe out.
The muzzle is released and Herlihy moves towards us descending the step, the band-saw safely over her shoulder. She squats at the bottom of the steps and introduces the dolls as her mother, her mothers mother, her mothers mothers mother, her mothers mothers mothers mother....her mothers mothers mothers, mothers mothers mothers mothers mothers mothers mothers mother.
Léann Herlihy, Ancestry of Incarceration, Derry 2018, photo by Jordan Hutchings
I begin to think of those women who brought me here. I do not know anything of my mothers mothers mother. For me the story ends at three generations of female. Where are the rest of them? I think about the many who do not even have one generation to know, the many motherless, the stolen children. Their histories wiped out by systems and institutions and the histories wiped out by silence and shame.
We are at the back of the Walled City Brewery on Ebrington Square. Before now soldiers drilled and fortified here. Today there is a gallery, a creative business Hub, a café and a gastro pub. The public wander around taking snaps of the view over the Peace Bridge. Times change, things move on, but some things we need to carry with us, some things need to be remembered, given time to, considered and cared for. We have the opportunity to choose our direction of progress, to chose what we take forward and how.
We are at the back of the Walled City Brewery on Ebrington Square. Before now soldiers drilled and fortified here. Today there is a gallery, a creative business Hub, a café and a gastro pub. The public wander around taking snaps of the view over the Peace Bridge. Times change, things move on, but some things we need to carry with us, some things need to be remembered, given time to, considered and cared for. We have the opportunity to choose our direction of progress, to chose what we take forward and how.
Post performance discussion with Léann Herlihy
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