Neart Na Machairí What is the role of creativity in building coastal resilience?

PROJECT SHOWCASE SUNDAY 4PM

This event will feature an exhibition documenting the process so far through video and photographic pieces and largescale creative maps exploring community connections to Maharees and the challenges climate change brings. Throughout the day, people can explore the exhibition and add their thoughts by taking part in a participatory art-making station, led by the project’s embedded artists, Zoë Uí Fhaoláin Green, Silke Michels and Emer Fallon, focused on developing natural pigments from rocks and plants as they consider their own coastal and climate resilience. 

In the afternoon we propose facilitating a one hour workshop which combines perspectives from the Maharees community members who since May 2024 have been collaborating on exploring their community’s coastal resilience in the face of climate change, along with words from members of Maharees Conservation Association who first envisioned the project. An interactive chat with the workshop participants will be facilitated by project designer Zoë Rush from the Dingle Hub to close the event.

We invite you to explore coastal resilience and community-led adaptation with the project team through creative activities and conversation.

Tugaimid cuireadh daoibh fiosrú a dhéanamh ar theacht aniar chóstaí agus oiriúnú pobalbhunaithe i dteannta fhoireann an tionscadail trí ghníomhaíochtaí cruthaitheacha agus comhrá.

The aim of this showcase event is to share the learnings to date from the creative climate action project, Neart na Machairí, with the wider community of the Dingle Peninsula and expand the conversation around coastal resilience and community-led adaptation.

Our approach comes from a place of respect for the Maharees community, and we began the project by taking time to listen and get to know people and place. We hope to hold a space for delving into difficult conversations, as well as facilitating playful creativity and celebrating the project participants’ love of Maharees. Joining the Community Partners on a learning journey, we have explored a variety of subjects through creative mapping techniques. Helping to preserve the heritage, lore and history of the tombolo, whilst exploring novel approaches to addressing the challenges climate change brings, is important to our practice. As three individual artists, sustainability is embedded in each of our work. We bring that sustainable approach to our shared creative acts in this project, such as: cyanotype printing, lino printing with earth pigments, foraging and cooking together, and eco dyeing. We will also integrate photography, video and sound recording into the process of exploring the challenges the community is facing. At the heart of our approach, is the aim to support the community so that the project has a legacy beyond our involvement.

https://mahareesconservation.com/creative-coastal-resilience.html