German artist's exhibition on peatlands opens in Offaly

GERMAN artist Katja Striedelmeyer has spent a number of years in Ireland and has collected loads of information on our Irish bogs which she said were so different from bogs back in her home country of Germany.

Peatlands is a community engaged exhibition which explores the deep and evolving relationship between people and peatland landscapes in Kilcormac and beyond.

Last year, Katja worked closely with local people, gathering their stories, memories and personal experiences of life shaped by the bog.

She said that “these conversations, along with my own observations, research and material collections, reflect the peatlands not only as a distinctive natural environment, but also as a place to work, family life, cultural identity and profound social and economic change”.

On exhibit were such items as tea bottle from Gragan's bog, root piece from Lemanaghan bog, wood piece from Derrinboy bog, bog butter from Carrownagappul bog and loads more objects too.

Katja said she explored the “ecological, culture and personal dimensions of Irish bog landscapes and found it fascinating. There are memories from the past and thoughts about the future intertwined with present day ecological conditions, offering insight into practices of care,” she said.

Also on display were fragrance distillates from peat, sphagnum moss, gorse blossom and bog myrtle kittens.

The audience could watch a video where people were interviewed about their working life and memories of bog life and sound pieces of “To Go Through Those Layers” where Katja spoke to a bog restorer who knows the land holds more than peat.

“Sound Piece,” said Katja, “explores Irish bogs as layered landscapes of memory, ecology and culture”.

She went on “it investigates how myths and natural phenomena co-exist in these unstable terrains and how they are reflected by storytelling and knowledge”.