The Curragh & the Cailleach

A page I stitched for a book I'm making for an exhibition inspired by the late Irish storyteller Manchán Magan. He died last year, as a young man.

It is a miserable wet day here at home. Dull grey skies & rain dripping off the roof of my studio.

This page is inspired by the story of the goddess Anu, who it is said, sent a cormorant off across the lough to search for her errant husband who had taken his curragh out for a bit of fishing & had not come home. Now there's a tale as old as time 😉

A curragh is a traditional Irish boat made from stretched animal skin across a wooden frame.

Manchán went out in a traditional one with a fisherman whose family had been using & making them for generations, in one of his podcast interviews. He noted the small bottle of holy water that was kept on a shelf under the prow.

On another occasion he mentioned the cailleach dhubh, the black hag, or as I would know it the cormorant. A wild seabird that is commonly seen around here and distinctive in the way it spreads its wings to dry, perched upon the rocks.

There is much mythology associated with the cormorant here in Ireland as well as abroad as it's found in all but one continent.

It has other names in Irish but cailleach dhubh is especially evocative to me as the Cailleach (hag/witch/cloaked woman) also features heavily in many other of our traditional stories

I think Curragh agus Cailleach has a lovely poetical tone.

My intention was to try & evoke mythological imagery through a mix of a contemporary, almost "cartoon" style, with the zoomorphic style of medieval illuminated manuscripts.

To set the piece within a time and landscape, that I feel privileged to witness on such magical evenings from my own studio window.

I doubt I will see such skies this evening but one lives in hope to see such a one again soon.