A Life Lived is a storytelling project created by participants on the Arts for Health Partnership Programme at Schull Community Hospital, Skibbereen Community Hospital, and St. Joseph’s Unit, Bantry General Hospital. The participants worked collaboratively with writer Elizabeth Rose Murray and visual artist Sarah Ruttle.
The project evolved from a love of storytelling in all its forms, and a desire to communicate these stories to family, friends, and the wider community.
Working with Elizabeth and Sarah, participants from the care settings brought their conversations to life.
Using the poem Unlegendary Heroes by Mary O’Donnell as inspiration, Elizabeth and participants worked together to create group poems in a similar format. The poems reflected individual and collective experiences. Sarah shared these poems to inspire participants in their drawings, exploring touch, movement, and portraiture. The completed work represents the communities that connected through this project and show how, in the words of one of the contributors, ‘a life lived is a life loved’.
A Life Lived is on display at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre as part of our Bealtaine Festival exhibition. The exhibition runs from 1 – 31 May 2024.
