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  • Valerie Connor
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​Stormy Petrel/Guairdeall

Alanna O'Kelly, Orla Ryan, Brian Hand

'Storm Signals' by Stormy Petrel, mixed by Pól Brennan from Tom Tailor Waterwitch, 2016.
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Photograph: Ros Kavanagh
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Photograph: Laurence O'Toole
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Photograph: Ros Kavanagh
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Photograph: Ros Kavanagh
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Photograph: Laurence O'Toole
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Photograph: Ros Kavanagh
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Book and CD. Design by Folded Leaf.
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Poster. Design by Folded Leaf

Stormy Petrel/Guairdeall ​

Installation and sound sculptures at GPO Witness History, Courtyard, 24 April-2 May 2016.
Sound installation in the GPO Witness History Visitor Centre Courtyard featured sound sculptures based on World War 1 listening devices. A 'Flair Horn Rig' continuously plays quietly spoken but dramatically told stories of women's journeys to spread the news of the Rising outside of Dublin and people could listen closely to them by putting their ear to a large 'Acoustic Radar' nearby. Steel fabrication by Laurence O’Toole.

​Mother Operated on Successfully Today

GPO Witness History Courtyard, performance repeated twice, duration 30mins, 25 April 2016. 
The performance was devised by artists Orla Ryan, Alanna O'Kelly, Brian Hand and movement director Libby Seward. Performers Libby Seward, Lucy Rowell, Orla Ryan, Kaija Kennedy, Una Maya Kennedy, Augustine O'Donoghue, Alanna O'Kelly, Frances Mizetti Duggan, Ceara Conway, Pauline Cummins, and Natasha Bourke.

As part of this commission, there were two performances presented on one evening in the newly opened GPO Witness History Visitor Centre Courtyard. These marked 100 years since the women gathered and departed from the GPO to spread the news of the Rising outside of Dublin. The title of the performance is taken from a coded message sent from the Cable Station on Valentia Island by the Ring brothers and received in New York on Easter Monday by Miss McGowan, the secretary of John Devoy, the leader of Clan Na Gael in America. The message read: Mother operated on successfully today signed Kathleen. 

'The wailing and moaning at intervals, the thought of the sea'. Walt Whitman.

​Thug siad oíche ar guairdeall dom/
​They left me wandering all night

Limited Edition Book with CD. ISBN 9780993577000. 
An artist book by Orla Ryan, Alanna O'Kelly and Brian Hand, designed by Eilis Murphy and published by Folded Leaf. Printed in a limited edition of 500 numbered copies, comprising five hand-bound sections and the CD 'Tom Tailor Waterwitch'. The book has 80 pages, 150x235mm, and the sound works on the CD are arranged and produced by Orla Ryan, Alanna O’Kelly and Brian Hand and mixed and mastered by Pól Brennan. 

Special thanks to Maolíosa Boyle, Ann Byrne, Ceara Conway, Mary Duffy, Frances Mezetti Duggan, Bairbre Hand, Una Hand, Eithne Hand, Sarah Hampstead, Aoife Kennedy, Jelizaveta Kirjouhina, Ruth Lehane, Julie Maguire, Peg McManus, Veronica O’Dea, Paddy O’Doherty,
Book Contents
  1. Living off scraps - the stormy petrel and the networked couriers of the Rising
  2. Commencing notes
  3. Factual poems - the military archives
  4. Protean subjects - a visual essay
  5. Storm birds – a lipogram
  6. CD: Tom Tailor Waterwitch
CD Track List
  1. Shetlandese 
  2. Song of the Stormy Petrel / Burevestnik by Maxim Gorky, 1901 
  3. Storm Signals (excerpt from sound installation in GPO courtyard) 
  4. Stormy Revolutionary Characters 
  5. Stormy Petrel by J. Martin, 1857 
  6. Storm Birds (lipogram) 
For enquiries about availability, contact Stormy Petrel.

Poster

'The Mosquito Press', A1, ​double sided poster, designed by Eilis Murphy. April, 2016.

Hanoi, May-July 2016

Vietnamese Women’s Museum
Invited by Pham Phuong Cuc, Curator at the Women's Museum. Irish Ambassador to Hanoi is H.E. Ms Cáit Moran and Second Secretary of Political and Economic Affairs is Chiara Popplewell. Supported by Culture Ireland and Dept Foreign Affairs as part of the Ireland 2016 International Programme. ​
English Language, Vietnamese Subtitles. Interviews with the Artists, Irish Ambassador and visitors to the exhibition in Hanoi. Source VTV4 via Ireland in Vietnam. 
Vietnamese Language. No Subtitles. Advance visit with the artists at An Post GPO Witness History Centre, Dublin. Source VTV1 via Ireland in Vietnam. 

Carlow, October 2016 to January 2017

VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Link Gallery and Studio Galleries with installation by Huong Ngo, Foyer Space. 
Featuring another issue of The Mosquito Press and a new moving image work using archived films including Lady in Grey, The Hazards of Helen, films by Mitchell and Kenyon shot in Ireland and more. And print and sculptural works by Vietnamese artist Huong Ngo. 
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Poster. Design by Folded Leaf

Posters

'The Mosquito Press', A1, ​double sided posters, designed by Eilis Murphy. October, 2016.
An Post GPO Witness History Commission Support
​Carlow Institute of Technology (Wexford Campus), VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow County Council Arts Office, Artlinks Ltd, Embassy of Ireland in Vietnam, Culture Ireland, Ireland 2016.
Image Permissions
Contact Ros Kavanagh or Stormy Petrel
Curators
Ruairí Ó Cuív and Valerie Connor 
Commissioner
​An Post/GPO Witness History 2016
A collaboration by artists Orla Ryan, Alanna O'Kelly and Brian Hand exploring the symbolism of the Stormy Petrel, the world's smallest seabird, as a metaphor for someone who is an avatar of change and who announces an oncoming storm. In 1916 the Stormy Petrel was an international symbol of revolution and the anti-colonial imagination. In particular, the artists looked at the role of women couriers who memorised the Proclamation on their journeys out of Dublin early on Easter Monday morning. The women became human telegraphs, on the go every minute, the pressure of the despatch always with them. We rise at noon. Obey your orders. Telephone, scrap, glance. Once the rebellion had started, delivering the message and getting back to Dublin was not straightforward. 

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Curated by Valerie Connor and Ruairí Ó Cuív. Commissioned by An Post GPO Witness History and awarded the Allianz Business to Arts  Jim McNaughton Perpetual Award for Best Commissioning Practice and the Judges’ Special Recognition Award for Portfolio of Investment, 2016.
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Omissions or errors in text and image credits will be corrected if notified. ​All original authors retain the moral and economic rights to their original content and its metadata. Website © Valerie Connor, 2022. Valerie Connor Ltd. is registered as a visual arts consultancy in the Republic of Ireland ​. VAT IE 9569439A