Dara McGrath
Dara McGrath’s practice is driven by overlooked human interruptions in urban, suburban and rural contexts. His project Operation Cleansweep was featured in the Solas Award in Gallery of Photography Ireland. McGrath’s latest body of work For Those That Tell No Tales focuses on Ireland’s War of Independence: a defining moment in Ireland’s history. Between 1919 and 1921, approximately 1,400 people died in the struggle for an independent Irish republic. Cork city and county saw the bloodiest of the fighting. Beyond the recognised memorials and major landmarks there are many more sites within the landscape where people lost their lives. This work was premiered at the Crawford Gallery in 2021.
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Artist Projects
Site-099 Beaumont Quarry, Douglas, Cork City, From the series, 'For Those That Tell No Tales' 2021
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Dara McGrath, Site-099 Beaumont Quarry, Douglas, Cork City, From the series, 'For Those That Tell No Tales' 2021
Civilian Joseph Cotter
Cotter’s body was discovered on 15 October 1920 in a disused quarry in the eastern suburbs of Cork city between the Ballinlough and Boreenmanna Roads; he had been missing for two days. He had several wounds on his face, head, and neck. After the onset of curfew on 13 October, a soldier had fired a shot at residents, and Cotter may have run to the vicinity of the quarry to avoid curfew patrols. On balance the evidence points to death by misadventure.
From the series, For Those That Tell No Tales, 2021
Dara McGrath's Book
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For Those That Tell Tales by Dara McGrath
About the book
For Those That Tell No Tales began as a series of conversations between Dara McGrath and Dan Breen, curator of Cork Public Museum, around how the museum and Cork city were to commemorate the Irish War of Independence. This kick-started a three year study of sites in and around the city. Preparation was taken before photographing each of the sites, extensive research included military statements, inquest reports, newspaper articles, historic archives and interviews with people in each locality.
The landscape itself bears witness to these events and by photographing them, we are reinserted back into that fractured space, acknowledging their existence so that their histories will not be forgotten. What connects them both is the relationship they have to the notion of the ‘troubled landscape’.