The Mantle
*The Mantle* is a multiform art project with roots in rossbeigh strand, co. kerry - a place which, through its mythical connections to tír na nóg, has always thinned the veil. through a season of community gatherings this summer, we’ve been attending to the ecologies & mythologies of the sandspit and surrounding area through a variety of storytelling practices.
Thinking about the role of community arts in the face of climate collapse, the project asks - can stories offer some kind of shelter from the storms to come? how might we weave stories together into a shared community fabric?
By picking up the storytelling mantle collectively, gathering local lore and experimenting with different ways of setting it back into the air - so far through music, poetry, conversation, walking, beach cleaning, photography & song - the idea has been to develop a protean community resource & collective practice for sharing knowledge about this shapeshifting place.
As the project tentatively extends itself towards other locations, this workshop seeks to bring the mantle’s red thread into dialogue with other esoteric ecologies. weaving our own storytelling into yours through a series of vocalising prompts, we’ll discuss the many-sided image of the mantle as a container / portal for this work, thinking between the geopoetics of our subterranean world and the history of this garment in the context of ireland’s colonisation.
Part of this material will be grounded in the mantle of the merrow - thinking into marine worlds through feminist listening practices around merfolk & selkies, setting these stories & songs in dialogue with work by writers & artists including alexis pauline gumbs, ursula le guin, david uzochukwu, anuradha mathur & dilip da cunha.
For the workshop’s central exercise, we’ll introduce a song / singing template inspired by the story of the merrow at rossbeigh and a magical city said to appear here every 7 years - thinking between rural & urban environments & their futurities under rising sea levels. as in previous workshops, we’ll teach the song to the group, experimenting with ways to weave a mantle out of thin air - which is to say, with our voices.
Bio
Amano Miura they/her
Amano is a songwriter, vocalist, and multidisciplinary performing artist from Kerry, Ireland. Her work takes shape across genres including folk, pop, sean-nós, electronic, spoken word and creative workshop facilitation in English and Irish. In the past year, her live performances have included Electric Picnic, Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, Fuinneamh Festival, Cork World Book Festival, Brigid 1500 Festival, Fingal Poetry Festival, Knockturnal at The Kabin Studio, Culture Night, Arts and Minds Festival & Little Whelans.
Emily Fitzell she/her
Emily is an artist, writer & educator based in Kerry, Ireland. Their work, often collaborative, moves between text, sculpture & performance. In 2024, they set up The Mantle - a community arts project exploring the mythologies & ecologies of Rossbeigh Strand. In the past year, their work has been supported by Creative Ireland, Kerry County Council, Cumas Ceantar Uíbh Ráthach, Rua Red Arts Centre & IMMA’s Earth Rising Festival.
Thinking about the role of community arts in the face of climate collapse, the project asks - can stories offer some kind of shelter from the storms to come? how might we weave stories together into a shared community fabric?
By picking up the storytelling mantle collectively, gathering local lore and experimenting with different ways of setting it back into the air - so far through music, poetry, conversation, walking, beach cleaning, photography & song - the idea has been to develop a protean community resource & collective practice for sharing knowledge about this shapeshifting place.
As the project tentatively extends itself towards other locations, this workshop seeks to bring the mantle’s red thread into dialogue with other esoteric ecologies. weaving our own storytelling into yours through a series of vocalising prompts, we’ll discuss the many-sided image of the mantle as a container / portal for this work, thinking between the geopoetics of our subterranean world and the history of this garment in the context of ireland’s colonisation.
Part of this material will be grounded in the mantle of the merrow - thinking into marine worlds through feminist listening practices around merfolk & selkies, setting these stories & songs in dialogue with work by writers & artists including alexis pauline gumbs, ursula le guin, david uzochukwu, anuradha mathur & dilip da cunha.
For the workshop’s central exercise, we’ll introduce a song / singing template inspired by the story of the merrow at rossbeigh and a magical city said to appear here every 7 years - thinking between rural & urban environments & their futurities under rising sea levels. as in previous workshops, we’ll teach the song to the group, experimenting with ways to weave a mantle out of thin air - which is to say, with our voices.
Bio
Amano Miura they/her
Amano is a songwriter, vocalist, and multidisciplinary performing artist from Kerry, Ireland. Her work takes shape across genres including folk, pop, sean-nós, electronic, spoken word and creative workshop facilitation in English and Irish. In the past year, her live performances have included Electric Picnic, Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, Fuinneamh Festival, Cork World Book Festival, Brigid 1500 Festival, Fingal Poetry Festival, Knockturnal at The Kabin Studio, Culture Night, Arts and Minds Festival & Little Whelans.
Emily Fitzell she/her
Emily is an artist, writer & educator based in Kerry, Ireland. Their work, often collaborative, moves between text, sculpture & performance. In 2024, they set up The Mantle - a community arts project exploring the mythologies & ecologies of Rossbeigh Strand. In the past year, their work has been supported by Creative Ireland, Kerry County Council, Cumas Ceantar Uíbh Ráthach, Rua Red Arts Centre & IMMA’s Earth Rising Festival.