HOME - Noli Timere

As announced in the summer, HOME - Noli Timere has worked to collate the photos, videos, lyrics and literature which have inspired hope in lockdown life. Translated as ‘don’t be afraid’, Noli Timere was the final text sent by Seamus Heaney to his wife, Marie. The sentiment is equally powerful and appropriate in the context of the current pandemic. Submitted to the project by members of the public and artists alike, these artistic responses to the ongoing pandemic have been transformed into a series of short films that we have released as Facebook and Youtube premieres and that you can now access by clicking the title links below.

A Belfast Prayer

Editor: Conan McIvor
Composer: Garth McConaghie
Photography: Carrie Davenport, Madeline Kelly, John Baucher and the MAC team 

"A Prayer for Belfast" by Carol Rumens
First published by Bloodaxe Books in Best China Sky (1993)

Read by Madeline Kelly, Charlie Magill, Molly Kelly and Archie Magill

With thanks to Stuart Bailie, Jan Carson, Vincent Higgins, and Eileen McClory

Blue is the Hour

Photographer: Carrie Davenport
Composer: Garth McConaghie
Editor: Conan McIvor 
Writer and performer: Abby Oliveria
Trumpet accompaniment: Rick Swann 

 “When lockdown hit the world seemed chaotic and unfamiliar. Suddenly we couldn't see family and friends who were our world and it hurt to be torn away from them when all you wanted was to go to them and make sure they were ok. As a freelance photographer, my work all but vanished, as it did for so many. I found once I settled into that new normal that will never actually feel normal, I enjoyed taking photos just for fun and being creative helped with all the bad news and confusion. I loved spending time with my little girl and watching her grow. I walked around the city photographing the buildings which have always been there, a sort of constant in the ever-changing world that made it feel like not everything had changed. I vowed to never take for granted a cuppa at mums or a meeting with a friend again. Mostly, I found positives in all that time I would not normally have and to make the most of every minute of it. As Abby perfectly puts it, at home where time is never spent but invested.” Carrie Davenport

“Throughout the pandemic, I've been struck by a need to document as much of it as possible, if only for the future reference of my son who was born mid-lockdown. I included those things that stood out most vividly to me; the eerily empty streets, the hand-crafted masks made by local women, grandparents meeting their grandkids through glass panes… I wanted to include some photography terms in the text; while researching these I discovered the concept of the 'blue hour' (the hour immediately before (or after) sunrise), and from there the central idea for the poem emerged. Carrie was eager to ultimately keep focused on the positives emerging from this situation; many of us have opted to take this approach for the sake of our sanity. However, the fact is that, in the background of our lives, there's constant nagging fear; our streets may be quieter during lockdown, but there are riots in our hearts and minds that threaten to someday spill onto the eerie streets.” Abby Oliveira

Illustrations

Music: Una Monaghan & Lyra Pramuk
Cartoon Illustrations: Andrea Montgomery
Video: Conan McIvor
Photography supplied by the MAC audience: Alana Barton, Alexandra Platt, HB Moore, Brenda Graham, Café Carberry, Carol Moore, Conor Ross, David Fitzsimmons, El McCullough, Jane Coyle, Jennifer Ebbage, Joe Laverty, Katie Ballentine, Ken Giles, Laney Mannion, Leanne Thornbury, Marelle Hannah, Marianna Patane, Melanie Bowden, Natalie Grabecki, Nuala Donnelly, Roberta Mawhinney, Rosie McGurran, Shona Pryde, Sylvia Pititto, Suzanne Burell, Thomas Hawkins.

Illustrations which has been created using the photographic submissions from you, our MAC audience. Photos of life in lockdown, friends, family, animals, countryside views and the ordinary moments at home have inspired our team to create this special short film. Another inspiration for the films’ creative elements also stemmed from a poem titled 'Sonnet’ written by Sacha White, which you can read below: 

We happily marooned ourselves inside the house and set adrift 

the outside world, then took to building smaller borders.

I claimed the spare room for a study, with its loose-tile-leak dripping

spring showers onto the windowsill. The view of rooftops

changed slowly with the season, evening shadows shortened

and summer came regardless of our absence. It arrived in punnets

from the grocers, smelling of elsewhere.

I slowly overwhelmed the house with plants,

studied where the sunstreams hit at different times

and carefully arranged long-leafed aspidistras and string-of-hearts,

parlour palms and an optimistic citrus tree.

Still, as soon as it was possible to venture back out into life,

I walked as far as I could, found warm sour berries in the bushes,

sat on the park bench, ate them greedily.

A Time Comes