Residents of Coill Dubh Bord na Móna workers village built in 1952 and designed by Frank Gibney.Owen Denneny, Peadar Cosgrove, Josie Byrne, Ray Lenehan and Ann Moore, from the collaborative and community engaged project ‘Tóch | Dig’ (2024-present), 2025.
This image was shortlisted for the AIB Portrait Prize 2025 and exhibited in the National Gallery of Ireland and will tour to Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny and Waterford Gallery of Art.
One of the judges Professor Emily Mark-FitzGerald (School of Art History and Cultural Policy, University College Dublin) noted the following about this piece:
“I loved everything about this piece; the composition, the warmth, the density of detail. It had a rhythm and humanity to it that was incredibly compelling. Well done on making the shortlist”
Tóch | Dig (2024-present)
‘Tóch I Dig’ is a phased intergenerational community engagement project, initiated by three artists Pamela de Brí, Shane Hynan and Sheena Malone who are interested in working with communities of place and interest connected to bogs in north Kildare. Connected by a shared interest in community and socially engaged art, the artists’ personal practices relate differently to rural Ireland, tradition and folklore. All three artists are based in communities with strong connections to bogs and turfcutting.
The project will have three phases. Developing organically, the outcome of each phase will inform the direction of the following one. The project will also explore the effects of climate change on communities past, present and future.
Phase 1 of the project proposed building an oral history archive through engagement with peatland communities in Allen, Allenwood, Ballyteague, Carbury, Coill Dubh, Lullymore, Prosperous, Rathangan, Robertstown and Ticknevin. During this phase, interviews were conducted with local people about their experiences, memories and stories relating to the bog.
‘Tóch I Dig’ was conceived with the intention of being an intergenerational and interdisciplinary phased project, targeting participants with either existing or new connections to the peatlands. While the focus of Phase I has been firmly rooted in the past, Phase II and III will move towards the present and then the future of the bog. These subsequent phases will engage a group of younger people and encourage a reimagining of the peatlands using the oral history archive as a starting point, leading to intergenerational discourse, interaction and a speculative future for the bog as a location of relevance to future communities.
Project funded by Creative Ireland and Kildare County Council through the Creative Communities initiative.
Phase 1 and 2 are now complete and we are seeking funding so we can realise Phase 3. The full archive of oral testimony, images of interviewees and archival material can be viewed on our dedicated website.
Click here to follow progress of our project on Instagram