Hilary Kennedy

My work explores the significance of Irish and British folk rituals and their interconnection with people and nature in our modern landscape. Using delicate materials like straw and wild grass, the work intricately weaves together different structures and forms using practices inspired by ancient Celtic techniques. The fragile and ephemeral nature of these materials serves as an allegory for the waning relevance of age-old rituals in our modern era.

Once synonymous with Irish and British culture, these festivals and ceremonial practices have gradually faded from bustling metropolises and found refuge in rural and coastal towns. Through my work, I have explored the mountain towns of the Mcgiddy Cuddy Reeks during Imbolc and ventured to coastal towns like Penzance where these ancient festivals still hold significance. Yet their true meaning and the remnants of their rituals, which once connected us to our ancient ancestors and the cyclical movement of nature, have all but vanished into the depths of antiquity.

Through the construction of masks and busts made from resin, my practice engages in a dialogue with the remnants of these folk traditions. Informed by my own likeness, these sculptural pieces encapsulate a multifaceted and powerful female figure, who transcends normative gender boundaries and embraces both masculine and feminine energies. I seek to honour and evolve the very idea of folk masquerade and in doing so, breathe new life into ancient symbols and help redefine them for a contemporary audience living in a world increasingly disconnected from nature.

Within the piece, we see a lone, isolated figure standing in both a rural and urban landscape — these images attempt to capture the juxtaposition between the modern and the ancient, the urban and the untamed, pondering where, if anywhere, rituals’ natural habitat now lies.