Performance at The University of Ulster, Belfast with Sinéad Keogh
Remembrance (2015) was commissioned in 2015 as part of The Belfast International Festival of Performance Art organised by Brian Connelly. Remembrance is part of a series of performances about child abuse which Cummins began with Sound the Alarm 1 for the Mermaid Arts Centre in 2007 and follows a previous work of the same name, Remembrance in 2013. The work was a collaborative performance with artist Sinéad Keogh. The performance was site specific to Belfast and recalls the events that took place in the Kincora Boys’ Home. The Boy’s Home could be seen from the University of Ulster windows where the performance took place. The Kincora Boy’s Home was a site of serious organised child sexual abuse, causing a scandal and attempted cover-up in 1980 with credible allegations of state collusion. It was still the subject of legal proceedings as of 2015 when the work was commissioned.
Based on the topic of institutional abuse in Ireland and referencing the Ryan Report, Cummins and Keogh took direct quotes by the victims which were used physically, placing them on the windows of the room blocking out the view of the city and gently folding them into envelopes and offering them to viewers. Rosemary, which is traditionally used for its healing properties, and for remembrance, was lowered on pulleys about the room. The two hour performance was designed to happen at sundown so as the natural light in the room became darker, giving the room a blue glow and highlighting the blue ink we sprayed on the windows which eventually turned the extracts of the Ryan Report that were placed there blue.
Remembrance (2013)
Performance at the Broadcast Gallery, Dublin with Sinéad Keogh
A two hour performance by Pauline Cummins with Sinéad Keogh at the Broadcast Gallery Dublin. Remembrance explores the topic of child abuse from the perspective of a past and future self as a person who survived abuse. Cummins designed the piece which had many detailed symbolic elements such as the constant agressive brushing of our hair and brushing large piles of blonde dead hair we placed in the centre of the dark morgue we performed in in front of a gold light. The use of the hair brush as a means of self harm was prevalent throughout the piece, as was the use of the scissors by scratching the walls and cutting extracts of Rosmary which is traditionally used for its healing properties that was lowerd on pulleys around the room. This exhibition was part of It has no name curated by Liz Burns. Other artists included Sandra Johnston, Frances Mezzetti and Dominic Thorpe.
