Notes from Cloughaneely – Excerpts from past work by Eve Li ahead of the Stories of a Home workshop in Donegal

Originally from London, Eve lives in the Donegal Gaeltacht. In her recent works, Eve has worked with stories, photographs, even recipes, to create immersive experiences that communicate themes of home, emigration, and immigration. Currently her exhibition, The Bridge of Tears is on display at An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny Co. Donegal. The exhibition features her co-facilitator for an up-coming ChangeMakers Donegal workshop, Francine Blaché-Breen.

About Stories of a Home

Now, Eve is collaborating with ChangeMakers Donegal, a community project specialising in Global Citizenship education for adults funded by Irish Aid, and Facilitator and Community Worker, Francine Blaché-Breen to create a new workshop centred around the theme of home. In this workshop, Eve’s input will feature a story exchange where participants are paired and share a story with eachother and then come back together as a group and share their partner’s story as if it were their own.

Bring Your Story

Participants will be asked to share a story or experience of home which they are comfortable sharing. Ideally, people would jot that down in advance of the workshop.

Francine Blaché-Breen will open the workshop talking about housing as a human right, looking at this issue of MICA and its ripple-effect as a social justice issue. Taking a global view, Francine will talk about similar scenarios around the world and the role of the Government and the regulators. This informative, educational, creative, participatory workshop will create a safe space to relate to each-other and others around the world. Pre-registration is essential, see booking link below.

Notes from Cloughaneely

Eve Li sent ChangeMakers some notes and photos of past work. Here, we share some excerpts of other past works of Eve’s to give people a glimpse into her practice ahead of the new ChangeMakers Donegal Stories of a Home workshop on Wednesday 30 November 2022 at 7pm – 8:30pm. At Stories of a Home which was especially created for MICA Week 2022, participants will be invited to bring a story about their home with them to Greencastle Community Centre. With an intimate group, we will create a safe space for people to reflect on the true meaning of home. The workshop was inspired by the MICA Week but of course people don’t have to talk about MICA specifically, rather, about what home means. Our intention is that this will create a supportive space for local people.

The Bus Stop

My bus stop installation in Killult about missing things from ‘home’ (London) which was the transport system for this installation:  When I first moved here, to Cloughaneely, I moved from London. I had lived there all my life. It was a big change. I couldn’t drive and I lived on farmland. I was isolated and cut off from the rest of the world. So, I lost the independence I had of moving about freely the way I did back home in London. And, where this piece is (Killult main road), it is where the buses stop. But, buses are not frequent here in rural Donegal (or anywhere rural!). So, in the days I couldn’t drive (which was too many years!) I would look out the window here and wish and imagine there’d be something like the London bus and tube service here. Where there are frequent buses every 6-8 minutes. So, if you miss one bus, there’s always the next bus. And, 24 hour buses! I missed the 24 hour buses I would take to get home after a night out. The buses go everywhere in London wherever you live. After 15 years here, I could still tell you which number bus to take to where in London. And, wouldn’t it be lovely to have trains in Donegal? I know there were trains once upon a time here but they are long gone. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we had a rail service up here again? Maybe, an express train from here to Belfast or Dublin!

 

A Letter from Grace

The Woman’s Group in Pobal Earrasch in Falcarragh where I went to speak about my Bridge of Tears project to ask people’s experiences of emigration.  One woman Grace shared her experiences with the group and wrote about her parent’s experiences and her own experiences in this ‘letter’ on paper.

Her community theatre project (an immersive theatre experience),The Bridge of Tears-The Stories of Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Immigrants with An Grianán Theatre, launched on Culture Night Donegal 2022 and the installation is open to the public until December of this year. This immersive experience explores the experiences of Irish immigrants abroad and the experiences of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants who live in Donegal and Ireland. Opening hours there are 9.30 – 3.30 PM Monday to Friday.

 

Motherhood

This picture was part of the Motherhood Theatre Workshop 2022 I facilitated.  As part of the storytelling and helping to write their stories for sharing and performing, participants were given canvas boards to express their stories of Motherhood through drawings. For this exercise, some also wrote their first paragraphs of their monologues in prose, poetry, and song.  This participant who now lives in Direct Provision drew a picture of her home in South Africa and her children in front of it where her motherhood journey started.

ChangeMakers Donegal’s Stories of a Home Workshop Booking

🕖 Wednesday 30 November 2022 at 7pm – 8:30pm at Greencastle Community Centre, Donegal.

Pre-registration via Eventbrite is necessary, so participants can receive guidance before the workshop, to reserve your space visit: https://tinyurl.com/25wh8ntd

For more about ChangeMakers Donegal and our exploration of social, economic and environmental issues, visit www.changemakers.ie.