Home * Commissioned works * Project journal

Áine Phillips

Shelters

Famine Memorial Park in Tuamgraney; Tobar Breeda, Crusheen; Aughinish Reilig, Aughinish Island, Co. Galway

Áine Phillips' temporary public art project Shelters, commissioned under the first strand of Ground Up takes the form of three wooden shelters, built in the common ‘vernacular’ of small sheds across Clare, and located at dispersed sites across Clare. The artist has chosen to commemorate the children’s burial grounds know as Cillíns or Kyles– unconsecrated burial grounds - and the placement of the shelter symbolizes refuge, sanctuary and a connecting space between the living and the dead. People are invited to enter the shelter, sit and leave a token (not money) in the manner of old shrines throughout the county.

The first of these Shelters is located in the ‘angels quarter’ of the Famine Memorial Park in Tuamgraney in East Clare. At this site thousands of persons are known to be buried including many babies and children even up to recent years.

The second Shelter in the series  is placed at Tobar Breeda, a popular holy well one mile from the village of Crusheen. There is a Cillín located at the rear of the holy well where the bodies of children and at least one adult are known to be buried.  Here the Shelter looks out onto the Cillín and contains lines of little paper dolls waving in the breeze to memorialise the entombed babies and children.

The third Shelter is sited at Aughinish Reilig, Aughinish Island, North Clare and is positioned to the rear of the Reilig or Cillin on the Shore line facing New Quay. For walkers along the shore it provides a comfortable seat out of the wind, a moments respite from the Atlantic sea breeze and a moment to contemplate the lives of the little beings buried nearby who were so ephemeral in this world.

This work would not have been possible without the generous support of locals Rose Glynn (author of The Story of Aughinish), Michael Keane and Sally Bartlett. The Shelters were expertly constructed by carpenter Andy Pyett and special thanks to Rathclooney man Padraig McCarthy for help in installing the three Shelters around the County.

Áine Phillips is a Clare based sculptor who specializes in installation and new media works. She has exhibited her work in museums and galleries Internationally. Her public sculptures have been commissioned in Ireland and the UK. She is head of Sculpture at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare.