Murmuration
2020, Enniscorthy, Wexford Co., Ireland
'Murmuration', 2020, (c) Nicola Anthony
Murmuration
Mixed media installation with poem by Louis De Paor
Permanent Installation, size variable
The motif of birds in flight came from sketchbook drawings I have been making about migration, using the birds as an allegory for the many people across the world who have had to migrate from their homes and settle in a new village, city, land or community. As part of a solo exhibition titled ‘A Desire For Closeness’, the sculpture also speaks of the invisible, intangible, and physical connections that we humans thrive on. It was born from a year of research working with isolated communities across Ireland, to understand the experience and impact of loneliness on the human spirit.
In a flock or ‘murmuration’ of starlings, each bird’s coordination is caused by thousands of individual movements and instinctive actions. This phenomenon is called emergent behaviour, where they appear choreographed but are in fact all acting independently. There are parallels with how humans behave in a crowd or as part of a society.
The starlings are made of words kindly lent by poet Louis de Paor. His poem Fáilte Uí Dhonnchú portrays crowds of people walking past an unseen, homeless, Romanian woman in the street - surrounded by people yet still incredibly alone.
Here as an installation, the poem itself becomes displaced, migrating, re-interpreted.
Murmuration was commissioned by First Fortnight Festival and exhibited as part of Nicola’s solo show “A Desire for Closeness”, 2020. The sculpture is now on permanent display at the Presentation Arts Centre, and will be part of the Wexford Literary Festival 2020.
In partnership with:
