An Seanchaí – Kerry Writers’ Museum, in partnership with Maynooth University and the Heritage Council, presents Rushes | Luachair, a specially commissioned exhibition and programme of workshops celebrating women’s moving image art practice, timed to coincide with Imbolc | Féile Bríde 2026.
Taking place on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 January 2026, Rushes | Luachair brings together the work of five artists—Lisa Fingleton, Laura Fitzgerald (curator), Bláithín Mac Donnell, Lorraine Neeson, and Mieke Vanmechelen—whose practices explore themes of land, identity, peripherality and productive liminality through film, analogue and digital media.
The exhibition uses the metaphor of rushes / luachair—both as marshland associated with marginal spaces and as a term for raw film footage—to examine hidden, overlooked and in-process work. Installed throughout Kerry Writers’ Museum in a site-responsive way, the exhibition draws attention to liminal spaces such as stair returns, corners and drawers, inviting audiences to look again at what is usually unseen.
Highlights include:
Lisa Fingleton’s projection of Lovelochán, documenting the making of a heart-shaped pond on her farm, screened onto the walls of Listowel Castle.
Laura Fitzgerald’s new moving-image works, including The other’s Other, interwoven with collages and a new publication.
Bláithín Mac Donnell’s collages, photographic slideshow, camera obscura, and live performance The Road Cuts Through.
Lorraine Neeson’s nocturnal moving-image work Frequencies (After Light / Near Dark) alongside a neon installation, There.
Mieke Vanmechelen’s film Bits of Me, charting family exchanges within the Caha Mountains over five years.
Opening Night – Friday 30 January, 6.00pm
Rushes | Luachair opens with an outdoor screening by Lisa Fingleton, performances by Bláithín Mac Donnell and bilingual spoken-word poet Cormac Mac Gearailt, and a reading by curator Laura Fitzgerald.
Workshops | Meithleacha – Saturday 31 January
The participatory programme takes place from 10.00am, modelled on a traditional meitheal of women filmmakers. Led by Sarah Arnold and Carolann Madden, the workshops explore community filmmaking, analogue and digital media heritage, and archival practice. The day culminates in the collaborative creation of a Rushes | Luachair Manifesto, addressing future practice in legacy media, community film and heritage management.
Rushes | Luachair is supported by Research Ireland through the New Foundations scheme.
All events are free and open to the public.
Further information: www.kerrywritersmuseum.com
