1845: Memento Mori
1845: Memento Mori is a Famine Memorial dedicated to the 19th century Irish Potato Famine. This installation, made of 1,845 handblown glass potatoes that are piled into the form of a cairn took over 15 years to create.
A cairn is a pile of stones that serves as a land marker, but in this case, it suggests a burial grave, and instead of stones, Stokes piles potatoes.
The number of glass potatoes (1,845), also the title of the project, references the year that the potato blight came to Ireland, marking the beginning of a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration. Over 1.5 million people died, and 1 million emigrated to Australia, Canada and America.
The form of the installation differs in response to specific locations, changing shape and volume depending on light, accessibility and exposure of each site. Finding context that is anchored in place, and its history, is part of how the work is uniquely created for each location. In previous installations it has taken the form of a cairn (a traditional stone pile). This presentation specifically implies a grave. Site visits and continued research form the evolving artistic exploration of this work.
1845: Memento Mori is not currently on public display. It has been acquired into the collection of the National Museum of Ireland where it will be displayed at the Museum of Decorative Arts & History at Collins Barracks, Dublin.
The installation will be featured as part of a future renovation within the full suite of the History of Ireland galleries, in a permanent gallery space taking a social, cultural and political approach to exploring Ireland’s history in the last 420 years.
Special thanks for the support from the Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust, the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, Creative Ireland, and Galway County Council.
Link to dedicated website:
Image credits: Ann Welch
