An Dorchadas (The Darkness) is a new project related to my current PhD research into folklore, emigration and design.
RMIT University Supervisors: A/Prof James Oliver and Dr Brigid Magner.
The first part of this project (Confirmation of Candidature) was presented at the Practice Research Symposium at RMIT Design Hub in October 2023. The next PRS presentations are free and open to the public, and will be held in June and October 2024.
Decolonising practice and positionality for publication: folklore, emigration and alienation through speculative fiction/non-fiction methodology.
This project seeks a better understanding of Australian identity in relation to Irish emigration in the 19th century and missing family histories. Gaeilge (Irish) language and cultural traditions were maintained over centuries in the form of folklore. Along with 19th century collections by W. B. Yeats, Lady Wilde, and Lady Gregory, folklore was extensively gathered from across Ireland in the 1930s by the Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann (Irish Folklore Commission). Research into this archive has revealed ancestral connections to the folklore of Western Ireland, helping to fill in unknown genealogical gaps and providing inspiration for the creative work.
Taking a decolonial approach to the themes of empire and emigration, this project seeks to produce knowledge through historical fictional narratives, and uses artificial intelligence as a tool for ideation and visualisation. The creative works will include folkloric images and texts, fieldwork recordings from Victoria and Ireland, and reimagined artefacts presented in publication format. These works will attempt to incorporate multiple timelines: a narrator in postcolonial Australia; a young Irish family emigrating to Victoria in the mid 19th century; and an older cosmological world in Ireland they seemingly left behind.
Keywords: Mid-19th Century, Irish Emigration, Australian Immigration, Irish Diaspora, Irish Folklore, Australian Folklore, Language, Land, Place, Alienation, Colonial Studies, Decolonial Studies, Historical Fiction, Folk Horror, Artificial Intelligence, Image Ideation, Visual Storytelling, Publication Design.