Cobh, Republic of Ireland September 17th 2023 – Come Home Journal #27

A reckoning of the journey (turas) to tour Dancing Shadows in Ireland, a retrospective of my film works as part of the Come Home project.

Days of rain can’t stop you!

Heading for Cobh I’m pricked again by how badly I had packed. Three days of rain, every day I was in Cork, highlighted it further. I buy a coat on the way and head to the railway station. Those hills and valleys so much easier without baggage, and drier with a coat.

I’m going to meet with a gallery about potentially screening my work. I had emailed with them for six months without ever feeling like I was more than a bother. The curator had told me to check in a few days before I visit. I had and received a curt reply. On arrival I find he is unavailable. Flummoxed. It was a long way to come for a fifteen minute meeting that he no longer had time for. It was very odd for Ireland, this country of stories and people to tell them.

Thankfully the curators assistant charged with ‘dealing’ with me was welcoming and possibly slightly embarrassed. She was lovely and engaging and had always lived in Cobh. ‘Deeply rooted’ she says, and I wonder how that feels.

Cobh is an incredibly beautiful harbour town with a history that entices many visitors from all over. It was the last place to have been safe harbour for the Titanic before it left for open sea. The village is full of Americans themselves full of the story of that ship. But in the dock today is the Disney Princess, a floating city and so very loud. She tells me the ships horn plays ‘When you wish upon a star’ as it leaves port. She says its take a long time to leave port, and more patience than her ears have.

Walking the shore with only a little time left before the final train I look out to sea and wonder what it feels like to see your future out there in the mist. I’m surprised by the birds that vie for my attention. They take me here and there – that point where anything is possible, that hybrid place – the opposite of fundamentalism – of being unsure. It takes courage to proceed into ambiguity. And this place keeps showing me the doorway. I believe the birds are wondering themselves when I might step through.

IMAGE CREDIT: Cobh Haarbour by Erin M McCuskey

The image journal can be found in this Collection – Ireland –  Flickr Album – in this album – Cork