Shane Cullen Sculpture commemorating The O’Rahilly to be unveiled

dublin | arts and media | event notice Monday April 18, 2005 23:19 by Noel Kelly - The Art Projects Network art.info at artprojectsnetwork dot net

Friday 29 April 2005 at O'Rahilly Parade, Off Moore Street, Dublin 1.

Dublin based artist Shane Cullen to unveil a sculpture commemorating The O’Rahilly, the only member of the 1916 leadership killed in action during the Easter Rising, on Friday 29 April 2005 at O'Rahilly Parade, Off Moore Street, Dublin 1.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Dublin based artist Shane Cullen to unveil a sculpture commemorating The O’Rahilly, the only member of the 1916 leadership killed in action during the Easter Rising, on Friday 29 April 2005 at O'Rahilly Parade, Off Moore Street, Dublin 1.


On Friday 29th April 2005 at 12.00pm, with an audience of city dignitaries, politicians, leading political figures, business people, and artists, the new Shane Cullen bronze wall mounted sculpture will be dedicated by Blathnaid Ui Rathaille, daughter-in-law of The O’Rahilly, on O'Rahilly Parade, Off Moore Street, Dublin 1.


The O¹Rahilly was one of the leaders of the Irish Volunteers who staged the Easter Rising of 1916. He was the first of the leaders to be killed, and the only one to die in action. Born in 1875, Michael Rahilly spent many years travelling in Europe and America (where he married) before returning to Ireland in 1909, when he became actively involved in Irish nationalism. He worked with Arthur Griffith on the new Sinn Fein Daily and took part in the activities of the Gaelic League. In 1912 he wrote a series of articles for the monthly Irish Freedom in which he argued the case for an armed uprising. On 11th November 1913 O¹Rahilly convened a meeting in Dublin¹s Wynn¹s Hotel at which it was decided to form the Irish Volunteers. As the member of the executive responsible for arms procurement he was one of the organisers of the 1914 Howth gun-running, together with Mary Spring Rice and Erskine Childers.


The O’Rahilly died after being shot on the last day of the Easter Rising, while leading a charge against an army barricade on Moore Street. As he lay dying in a doorway he wrote a farewell note to his wife, on the reverse side of a note which his son had written to him during the rising. The note had been punctured by one of the fatal bullets.


The Artist: Shane Cullen was born in Longford in 1957 and is currently living and working in Dublin. His work has been widely exhibited in Europe, the United States and Canada. In 1995 he represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale and most recently at the inaugural Lodz Biennale in Poland 2004. He has spent periods of residency in Hungary and France and in 1998 was awarded the P.S.1. Fellowship at the Museum for Contemporary Art in New York. In 1992 he founded the Council for the Preservation of Monuments to Martyrdom and Resistance and is an active member of the Culture and Conflict Group. In 2002 he presented a vast sculptural work The Agreement (www.theagreement.org) based on a complete transcription of what is more commonly known as the Good Friday Agreement which has toured widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland. He is currently collaborating on a long term project with the Courage to Refuse (www.seruv.org.il) and will be presenting the next manifestation of this project at the National Sculpture Factory in Cork in July 2005 with fellow artists John Buckley and David Crawforth.



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