Manchán Magan remembered in participatory artwork at The Dock

A collective artwork of quiet remembrance is unfolding at The Dock this winter, inviting visitors to pause, reflect, and take part in a shared act of making.

Titled ‘Bhí mo chuimhneamh ort. I was thinking of you’, the work is presented as part of Waking the Land, an exhibition by the Leitrim-based ^ collective, and runs from December 6, 2025, to February 14, 2026. The piece is dedicated to the memory of Manchán Magan, whose work explored language, place, heritage, and deep listening to the land.

Manchán Magan was an Irish writer, broadcaster, and documentary-maker whose work centred on language, landscape, and the deep cultural memory held in place. Best known for his explorations of the Irish language, traditional knowledge, and pre-colonial Irish life, Magan spent much of his career asking how people might live more attentively — to the land, to history, and to one another.

Through books, television programmes, radio documentaries, and public talks, he championed the idea that modern Ireland had lost something vital by becoming disconnected from its native language, ecology, and inherited ways of knowing. His work often blended scholarship with personal inquiry, drawing on folklore, etymology, archaeology, and lived experience to re-examine Irish identity beyond tourism clichés or nationalist simplifications.

At the centre of the installation is a loom — not as an object to be viewed from a distance, but as a living, communal space of participation. Visitors are invited to learn how to weave and to add a single line to the textile, each thread carrying a personal intention or memory, offered in remembrance of someone or something meaningful to them.

The artists describe the loom as an invitation into “a space of quiet attention,” where slowness and care are central to the experience. The materials used are equally intentional: undyed wool from the native Galway sheep breed, combined with plant matter gathered from Benbo Mountain and five meadows carefully tended by the artists themselves. The result is a work rooted in place — physically, emotionally, and ecologically.

Rather than a finished object, the textile is a work in progress, shaped over time by many hands. Each woven line becomes part of a larger collective act, echoing themes that were central to Manchán Magan’s writing and broadcasting — connection to landscape, memory carried through language and craft, and the importance of communal knowledge.

The ^ collective is an artist-led group based in north Leitrim, made up of Tara Baoth Mooney, Shane Finan, James Kelly, Laura McMorrow, and Sonya Swarte. The group operates from an experimental studio space in Manorhamilton and has spent the past three years working closely with local communities in response to themes of environmental grief, care, and tending to the land.

Their practice is rooted in collaboration — not only with each other, but with community members and the natural world, which they describe as a co-creator of meaning. This approach has taken many forms, including rituals, workshops, symposia, shared meals, walks, and story-exchange gatherings, all grounded in attentiveness to place.

Visitors interested in contributing to the loom or learning more about the project can speak with a member of staff at The Dock or email thedockartscentre@gmail.com
to make a booking.

Waking the Land runs at The Dock until February 14, 2026.

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