2000 Imagine, Blacklion swimming Jetty, Co Cavan.
As part of a residency Walsh worked with a group of teenage students from local schools on a cross community, cross border initiative to develop a piece of work that would distill their concerns.
Through a series of art workshops and a residential weekend, the group connected and collaborated with Walsh on the ideas for project.
Through the workshops the young people started to share and discuss their hopes for their future in the context of the Northern Ireland.
Given the opportunity to produce a public art work with a message, they identified a desire for young people to believe in their own agency to move beyond sectarian divides and Ireland’s ability to change positively.
The Crannog in the lake quickly became an image or stand in for this Island. (Crannogs are Bronze age defensive islands built by humans, there are many still in existence in lakes around the country)
The site at the swimming Jetty is a place where young people from both sides of the border participate on swimming courses run in the summer.
The final swim on the last day of the course out to the Crannog is seen locally as ‘rite of passage’ for advanced swimmers.
