Who Were Paddy's Snakes - A Stand of Knowledge
St. Patick's Day Project 2023 with Vicki Davis
7 February to 17 March 2023
Studio 2

Inspired by the social media Instagram hashtag #bring back the snakes Vicki's piece Who Were Paddy's Snakes is a real world investigation into what she found out when asking the question Who were St. Patrick's snakes? . Her concern is that from a young age she truly thought Ireland had snakes. It is what we are told through storytelling from a young age and Vicki didn't know the snakes actually were a metaphore. The snakes that St. Patrick actually ran out of Ireland were Irish people, or even more so that he didn't run out but suppressed. The snakes that are referred to are the druids, earlier spiritual leaders of the Pagan faith, Irelands leading religion before Catholicism.

During this residency Vicki will be engaging with the community by inviting them to a series of workshops, there will be readings of stories and discussions based on the history of St. Patrick. She wants to know what the community knows and will be taking recordings of answers for an archival soundscape. 

Vicki will be facilitating 4 weeks of workshops inviting the public to participate. There will be readings of folklore texts, discussion, designing, banner making that will include the process of signmaking, hand stitching, hand sketching, painting and printing, as well as installation techniques. Opportunity to perform although not mandatory. There will also be collective making of a sound piece. Workshop details to follow soon.

Vicki will be looking at the commonalities between parades and protests which are all political tools for information sharing. Together the community created during the workshops will share their new knowledge through a narrative on banners created during a series of workshops. Inspiration will be taken from Skibbereens local shop signage as a means of communication which will look at colour, font, text layout.

The work created will be displayed on St. Patrick's Day 2023 in Skibbereen and will take the form of a performative installation.

As a multidisciplinary artist performance, site specific installation, field recording and digital art make up Vicki’s artistic process. Drawn to topics such as environmental well-being and neurological disorders her work takes on an almost therapeutic approach informed by introspective curiosities and social issues. Fascinated by the idea of utilising the body as a medium to narrate a story she performs actions that are documented through film and photography. Expression, symbolism and language blend to form 3 dimensional montages. A passion for historical research means that deep exploration is an important factor within her work. She also enjoys the concept of "spectator as participant" striving to create interactive artworks where your activation becomes central to its meaning.

https://www.instagram.com/_vicki.davis/

https://www.vickidavis-visualartist.com/

Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre's Artist Residency Programme is supported by the Arts Council and Cork County Council.