Mayo shepherdess takes part in year-long arts project
A MAYO farmer is playing a key role in an arts project looking at the lives of women shepherds.
Catherine O’Grady Powers from Glen Keen Farm, Louisburgh, is one of four shepherds to be part of The Calling Sheds.
The project, by Liverpool-based artist Patricia MacKinnon-Day, looks at the under-represented lives of women shepherds.
MacKinnon-Day will delve into the working processes, attitudes, feelings and language of the four women on farms in Cumbria, England, Snowdonia National Park, Wales, the Isle of Bute in Scotland and Co. Mayo.
Each shepherd has taken delivery of a specially constructed shed on their farm enabling them to connect with each other and open up a dialogue about their lives.
Catherine O’Grady Powers has been a shepherdess for two decades. She has already broadcast live from her farm in Louisburgh to visitors to Tate Exchange Liverpool.
She said: “The Calling Sheds Project is absolutely amazing, I feel very honoured and proud to be part of this fantastic initiative and I am especially proud to be the only shepherdess in Ireland to be involved.
“I see The Calling Sheds as a recognition of women in farming and I also view it as appreciation of my work on our sheep farm. I think the project will provide a new platform to females in sheep farming.
“The best thing about being a shepherdess is how it connects me with nature. We live in a very beautiful valley at the gateway to the Connemara region.
“Working with the sheep on a daily basis in the outdoors in the midst of nature on good days and bad days allows a very calm and earthy way of living.
“The tactile experience of walking on the landscape here is a constant reminder of the people before us, my family, my ancestors from the 1600s who farmed here through the centuries. In some ways it is a humbling experience.
“Working with the sheep on this landscape is almost like a journey back in time, where it makes me feel like I’m a caretaker of the sheep and the land.”
The Calling Sheds is presented in partnership with the shepherds, Artscape Management and independent curator Charu Vallabhbhai.
MacKinnon-Day said: “The Calling Sheds seeks to creatively engage with these remarkable women who work extremely long hours in all weathers in a world perceived as being solely occupied by men.
“In a sense the sheds at the farms become the shepherds’ own year-long residency space. The sheds allow them to step into another sphere where they live and work.
“This is a year-long project. We launched at Tate Exchange and invite audiences to find out more about the rural life and work of a sheep farmer.
“At Tate Exchange visitors listened to a sound piece, saw a selection of objects from each of the farms, and at set times of the day, actually spoke to the four women themselves.”
The Calling Sheds will unfold in four stages involving exhibitions in each location, and invitation to artists from a range of art spheres to produce new material in response to lives of the four participating shepherds.
The Calling Sheds is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.