Following on from The Ancestors at Killruddery House & Gardens in Ireland, I have started a new postdoctoral artistic research project at Annes Grove in County Cork, supported by Research Ireland and the Office of Public Works (OPW). My aim is to interrogate the written archives, speak to the surviving family members who formerly owned the estate (it was given to the Irish State in 2015) and to investigate the land, gardens and empty house as an archival site.

Annes Grove is open to the public for its exotic gardens, originally designed and planted during the Victorian period of British rule, as a joint venture between the Annesley-Grove family of Annes Grove and an explorer named Frank Kingdon-Ward.

The site is rich with symbolism, story and ghosts, and I have already started to walk the grounds, explore the house, making recordings as I go. I have also begun the process of speaking to the former owner, Patrick Grove-Annesley and the archivist who works for the OPW, Aileen Spitere.

I shall be making regular site visits there in the coming months to gather knowledge, begin planning the artworks for the site, and eventually to record with an Irish female singer, using some of the archival objects as a kind of graphic score.

More to follow as the project develops…