See the faces of Ireland in ‘Timelines’

By Allen Brewer

(Photo Courtesy of John Carson) “Timelines,” a portrayal of the stereotypes of Irish people, will be shown at the Richmond Center for the Visual Arts at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Western Herald

The beginning of the New Year is usually a time for looking into the future and making plans for the upcoming months, but one artist’s video presentation may have students looking at the past.

John Carson, currently the Department Head of the School of Art for Carnegie Mellon University, originally went to the town of Belfast in Northern Ireland in 1975 and 1976 to visit family.

Taking pictures of numerous family members and friends, he created a “friend map,” only to revisit it about 30 years later.

“In 2005, I was reflecting on where I was in my life,” Carson said. “I looked back at that work in Ireland and the photographs appeared but they didn’t have a voice. I decided to revisit it and give them that voice this time around.”

“Timelines” is the result of recent interviews of 42 people still living in Northern Ireland about their lives in the years since Carson’s first visit, a time that was marked in Ireland by intense conflict between Catholic and Protestant Irish citizens.

Carson said it is intended to show that the stereotypes of the Irish people, especially from that period in time, were actually just a minority.

“Most people just want to get on with their lives,” he said.

In talking to some of the people who only had their pictures taken in 1975 and 1976, Carson was able to ask what their hopes and aspirations were back when he first visited them and he was filled in on what had happened in their lives since then.

“The work gives a particular picture of a certain location but it’s also something people can identify with,” Carson said. “Their youthful ambitions when they were younger were carefree but tempered by restrictions from politics.”

Ireland is a long way from Kalamazoo and the troubles that plagued Ireland are much older than the current students at Western Michigan University, but Carson’s presentation is intended to show that. Despite the difference in location, some things are universal. The desire to overcome obstacles, for example, as well as the pain of loss and highs of love.

“There’s a basic set of human values that we all share,” Carson said. “It’s about resilience and it’s very fundamental.”

Carson was worried that students wouldn’t be able to connect with the issues and characters until he showed some of his own students at Carnegie Mellon.

“I was surprised what they got from it,” Carson said. “They found the characters engaging and a good bit of humor in there.”

Cody Drogt, a senior at WMU, said that he didn’t know much about the conflicts in Ireland because of what was happening in America around the same time.

“You had so many other things going on that I guess it just got put on the back burner,” Drogt said. “It definitely sounds interesting, though, I’m glad someone brought this kind of presentation to Western.”
Another senior, Derek Edmondson, agreed with Drogt.

“I know a little about it because part of my family is Irish, but I’d always wanted to know more,” Edmondson said. “But if this hadn’t come to Western, I probably wouldn’t pursue it on my own.”

“Timelines” will be shown at the Richmond Center for Visual Arts for the first time after a presentation by Carson at 5:30 on Thursday.

It will continue on Mondays through Thursdays until Feb. 7. Admission will be free.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jan 8 2009. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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