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A Book

As a book the project is published in an accessible and easily understood manner. Its literary form, once more, lends a certain authority to the words within.

Communion as a publication is a key object – one that ties its various forms together, and provides an entryway into this part of my practice. Moreover, the act of writing its introduction allows me to reflect upon the work and consider how it shall evolve.

Typeface: Seanchló (Galechló)

Introductory Text:
Communion (2023) is an archival project examining Irish identity at the beginning of the new millennium. Its participants have been asked to recall making their First Holy Communion; a key rite of passage in traditional Irish life and a lens through which the project’s enquiry is focused. Presented in book form, these collected interviews shed light upon the country’s conservative past; its increasingly globalised future; and the frenzied Celtic Tigerism of the transitionary period in question. 

That the domestic is inherently political should be of little revelation to many who spend the holiday season furiously debating around kitchen tables. The academic David Llyod points out that religious, nationalistic, and political beliefs are often disseminated via domestic artefacts (1). Browsing a souvenir shop in any major city, or indeed the Vatican’s very own, reveals the myriad forms through which this truth is enacted. Considered in this light, the Communion portrait played such a role in Irish households for most of the 20th-century. A photo-object created through Catholic ritual that further enacted Catholic power in the home. The activation of this item in the domestic sphere demarcating lines of belief tied to conservative social values. For a gay Irish emigrant visiting home in the 1980s; this idealised portrait of a younger Catholic self would have been fraught with symbolism. Its proud display, perhaps, indicating lack of acceptance towards the returnee’s identity. 

Times have changed however, and with them the symbolic potency of the Communion portrait has waned. Such a shift can be seen in the photographs (or often photographs of photographs) submitted for this publication. The majority of participants provided whatever image was easily accessible, and many had to do some (much appreciated) digging to find any image at all. Most of these photographs bear little resemblance to the professionally taken portraits that once adorned living room walls. This absence of official portraiture revealing the decline in value that Irish families place on such mementos, and by extension the dwindling importance given to religious rituals as milestone markers in life. 

As to who we are now and where we are headed? That is a question far beyond the remit of this book; and one with which many countries grapple in the face of globalisation. First Holy Communion, as ostentatious pageantry, lended itself perfectly to a time of rapid economic growth and crass expenditure. Looking past the pomp and procession, the importance of such ritual to community-building comes into focus. Many participants mourn the loss of this social aspect and the positive bonds it built. Others, however, remain hopeful in the face of the country’s progressive trajectory. Freed from its conservative past, they see a clean slate to use in creating new kinds of ritual; perhaps rooted in acceptance and solidarity over dogma. 

(1) Llyod, D. (1999) ‘The Recovery of Kitsch’ in
Ireland After History. Cork: Cork University Press.

Layout and typographic explorations:

Quotes from the archive printed onto Communion wafers. These have been photographed using a macro-lens, allowing these diminutive objects to be scaled for print.

Typeface: Colmcille MT Std.

Cassette Tapes

I find cassette tapes interesting as artefacts whose material nature supersedes their use. For many people, a cassette tape is a symbol for nostalgia, valued as much for its retro aesthetic as its audio content.

Casette tapes do still live on, fulfilling their intended purpose, in the indie-publishing music world. They are also, conveniently, a relatively cheap and easy to produce – which will make this format ideal for further publication after graduating from MAGCD.

Excerpts from the archive…

I also experimented with the presentation of these videos in a gallery setting. Originally, I planned to project circles of light onto wafers (which would be affixed to a wall). This proved rather ineffective in the end and cancelled out the materiality of the wafers themselves.

Experimental Portraiture: Printing the photographic archive onto Communion wafers.

Participants are also asked to provide a photograph themselves on their Communion day. The result is a visual and audio oral history archive that speaks to key time of change in Irish society.

Reading the photograph (an approach based on Hito Steyerl’s work):

The majority of participants provided whatever image was easily accessible, and many had to do some (much appreciated) digging to find any image at all. Most of these photographs bear little resemblance to the professionally taken portraits that once adorned living room walls. This absence of official portraiture revealing the decline in value that Irish families place on such mementos, and by extension the dwindling importance given to religious rituals as milestone markers in life. 

Steyerl, H. (2012) ‘In Defense of the Poor Image’, in The Wretched of the Screen. Berlin: Sternberg Press, pp. 31–45.

Following the methodology of Return to Celtworld, participants are asked a series of interview questions.

1. Thinking back to that time, what do you recall of the lead up to the making your first Communion? How did the people around you, particularly the adults, treat it?

2. Reflecting on Ireland at that time, do you feel that society was changing?

3. How do you think Irish society has changed since then? What have we gained / lost?

4. What do you think has replaced the religious rituals that were once so central to Irish life?

5. Would your kids make their Communion?

A Course Change

Moving forward I have decided to focus my enquiry more narrowly gain on the ritual of Holy Communion in Ireland at the turn of the millennium.

Ireland at this time was at the apex of its transition to its current, state. Moving from a rural, conservative society to one that embraces change and operates largely as a tax haven for multinational companies. This was the era of the Celtic Tiger in full flight; a period wherein the country gained tangible wealth. A new set of clothes that at times seemed ill-fitting.

The ritual of Communion became emblematic of this time in the country’s history. This once important milestone was no longer about religion, but instead became ostentatious pageantry. Questions of piety were quickly replaced by ones concerning the amount of money received from relatives; the clothes worn during the big day; and where one’s post-Communion meal would be held.

Artist Jim Ricks captured the ludicrous nature of all this in his 2010 work Poulnabrone Bouncy Dolmen. Ricks stated, “At the height of the Celtic Tiger period, on every special occasion there seemed to be a bouncy castle around. Bouncy castles became a sort of vernacular monumental sculpture. So I decided to bring those two things together, and create a sort of hybrid version of Irish identity.” (2012)

Experiments with UV-Printing

Above: UV-Printed Communion Wafers forming the image of Our Lady at Ballinspittle, Co. Cork. The site became a site of pilgrimage in 1985, after onlookers reported seeing the statue spontaneously move.

Inspired by Mark Shepard’s Sentient City Survival Kit, I am applying the precepts of speculative design to the past.

Above: Proposition for a Supermac’s Papal Visit Meal. A speculative object that embodies the confluence of old Ireland and its move towards a more globally situated cultural outlook. An elegantly stupid object, the works power comes from the application of detailed and throughouh production processes to low-grade materials.

Shepard, M. (2011) Sentient City Survival Kit
Available at: https://survival.sentientcity.net/travelmug.html/ (Accessed: 15 May 2023).