The Quay
Ballyknock
St Mullin's
Co. Carlow
R95 XY93
29
JULY
2023
2.30 pm
Artist Deirdre O’Mahony presents a new work made for the Eco Showboat project, The Song of the Farmer and the Dung Beetle, performed live on the shores of the Barrow by vocal artist and performer Siobhan Kavanagh and multidisciplinary artist Michelle Doyle, and is based on her research at UCD’s Earth Institute. Deirdre has been engaging with farmers in the region, looking at soil health and regenerative agriculture as strategies for adding conservation and biodiversity value to farming and water quality. This new work focuses on the work of Kilkenny farmer Suzanna Crampton, who has been instrumental in raising issues about the importance of manure to healthy soil and water ecologies. Suzanna has a passion for dung beetles and has a particularly empathic relationship with animals.
Join Anne, Denis, Deirdre and Suzanna for tea and some locally produced culinary offerings at Blanchfields Pub.
4 pm
More and more Irish artists make work about environmental issues, but Deirdre O’Mahony is certainly the original of the species. For two decades her work has been informed by farming culture, generating rich ecological conversations around the history of the potato, innovative farming practices or rural sustainability. For the Eco Showboat project, Deirdre is creating a new work with Kilkenny farmer Suzanne Crampton celebrating the humble dung beetle.
The Song of the Farmer and the Dung Beetle. Deirdre O’Mahony 2023
MEET THE INVERTEBRATES - Eco Showboat resident marine biologist Rachel O'Malley shows you some of the little creatures that live in our waterways and talks to you about endangered species, invasive species and other problems facing fresh water environments.
2.30 pm - 5 pm
Meet Anne & Denis who talk about their two year solar journey on the island’s waterways, show you their studies and observations of nature and tell of their encounters with artists, activists and scientists who explore with them the problems and promises of the freshwater environment.
In case of rain:
Blanchfields Pub
St Mullin's
Co. Carlow
R95 V9TT
ECO SHOWBOAT at St MULLINS