The last week or so I have been reconnecting, finding my resonance with people, art, culture, climate change and the things I am passionate about. I’m wondered has the question I am living with changed? During the early stages of the Covid Pandemic, I was living with four questions. I still think about ‘How do we create a future worth giving into?‘ but am I living with it?
My personal climate goals to reduce my carbon footprint and tackle our household food waste continue. I recognise I’m doing better than the majority of Irish people but I still have some way to go if I look at my 2030 target. I’m sharing this here as a way to encourage you to start mapping and reducing your emissions if you do not already. This is my personal choice and I act on it whenever I shop, pay my bills and use transport. While I do not think of myself as privileged I am and have learnt to accept that, so I recognise my privileged in being able to think and act on emissions.
I’ve found my way back to the blog because I do think this has been a distinctive week for me. Its precursor was being alone for over a week with just the two dogs, something that has not happened in our living with Covid world. I worked, walked the dogs, shopped, cooked and cleaned for 1. That gave me a distinct insight into the amount of time I spend doing things that are kinda invisible. I listened to lots of podcasts. Tried to build new habits and continued my new & much loved walking habit. No, I did not make art or journal much. Just gave myself space to be.
Last weekend I reconnected with a dear friend I’d not seen since before Covid. It felt odd that we’d not physically been in each other’s company for so long. We had tried to meet up before but due to the complexities of life, family, work and commitments.
We went to Rua Red in Tallagh to see The Map a wonderful shared experience of a truly shameful time for Irish women and how their human rights were abused at an institutional level in the Magdelene Laundries.
The Map is a tapestry of beautiful materials, techniques, made by two artists’ hands Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon. Yes while standing in front of it I remembered standing in front of the Bayeux Tapestry as a child and more recently The Ros Tapestry. But the map is a contemporary reclaiming of stitch work, women’s lexicon, our bodies and experiences in a superb cloak of colour and scale. Indeed a ‘testament to the invisible labour of women everywhere’.
It was the narrative spoken by Alice Maher that made me think this was the perfect reconnecting for myself and Treacy.
Making, drawing, intersections of thinking, history, activism. Artists collective to create images for the change in culture to bring about the Repeal the 8th, female solidarity. Physical labours, coalescing together to create an opening…
Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon
Alongside the physical art of the tapestry was a dark annexed room of audio, spoken word written by Sinead Glesson. Press play and close your eyes… listen
Walking into the darkened space it took me a while to figure out this was all there was in this room,. I was not prepared for the impact the quiet listening would have and is still having on me.
A thread began to be woven, resonating and reconnecting me back to things I had been working on regenerative living, climate activism, making, women’s ability to gather people together and inspire each other to keep going despite difficult times.
A perfect week to prime my well, International Women’s Day(IWD2022) this week offered me a whole raft of webinars and events to listen to. Looking back I should have been able to hear the shuttle weaving backwards and forwards on the waft.
On Wednesday evening I hosted the Wexford Environmental Network (WEN) talk on Craftivism by Natasha Ariff to celebrate IWD2022. This was a fantastic talk by Natasha who put a lot of work into a slide deck with historic and activist references. Some I had not heard of and delighted to discover. I’m so happy to be able to share it here.
This has kicked off the idea of hosting open discussions and making groups digitally. I’ve offered to host the next conversation and making session later this month, news on this soon. WEN has offered to host an Irish Craftivism channel within the WEN Slack Channel so let me know if you are interested in an invite there.
There are other inputs and talks, podcasts and reflections this week but the culmination before I go out to walk the dogs that I want to mention is the event in IMMA yesterday.
IMMA is the Irish Museum of Modern Art, a wonderful building and venue for a Learning event on connecting people post Covid on the circular economy and zero waste. The event was generously organised by Deirdre Lane from Kildare as part of the AONTAS Festival of Learning and tied into several networks to create this opportunity to get like-minded people together from the South East of Ireland.
An artist, Steven Doody brought us his living art practice into the room. A sculptor working in clay and stone he works as a community tree planting facilitator with Easytreesie/Crann. Co-Chair’s forestry policy group, Public Environmental representative with Dublin City PPN, Tree planter with The Orchard project. He brought some bare-root trees that are calling out to me to get in the ground! He was funny and made the whole planting of a tree accessible no matter what people’s living spaces were like. He is working with the GAA and other organisations to plant trees.
Slowing down for a just transition to a regenerated world was the title of the training facilitated by Rachel Dempsey, Full Circle Change. It resonated with the Tools for the Regenerative Renassonace course I did early in Covid and my work with IDEN (Irish Doughnut Economics Network). Really nice learning session with a good pace and timed space for discussion in smaller and whole room groups.
I really liked how Rachel modelled ways to deal with polarising contexts and views. An excellent use of my Saturday afternoon and I look forward to seeing where that discussion and those connections travel.
I should also add the systemic risk and resilience agency I’m a co-founder of publishing a paper next week with a follow-up webinar. More on this soon too.
Remembering posted is better than a perfect draft. This is my blog after all. Comments appreciated if you read this far THANKS!
Let me know what’s resonating with you this week?
What has been going on in your world despite the madness in Ukraine?
Off to walk the dogos and plant those trees.
Happy Sunday.
Roisin Markham 
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