Tempestries Field Trip 2023

Field Trip – May 2023 

In May 2023 Jools Gilson, Textile Artist Veronica Santorum and Sound / Media Artist Benjamin Burns travelled to Co. Roscommon for a three-day Field Trip to Cloonshannagh Bog – the place where the 7th century female bog skeleton and her textiles were found. Locating the site took two of these days with the help of a trusty local gardai who had been present at the original find in 2005. We spent as much time as we could on Cloonshannagh Bog doing field recordings, drawings, photography, movement explorations, and on day 3 moved to the northern part of Cloonshannagh Bog which like so much of the midlands has been mined extensively by Bord na Móna. This part of the bog is still humming with recent cessation – industrial machinery everywhere, the remains of ancient woodlands scattered. Bord na Móna has blocked up some of the drains on this bog and we could see the beginnings of re-growth.   

Photographs by Benjamin Burns ©