Spirit Of Place Swinford

Spirit Of Place Swinford – The Procession Of The Souls

Spirit of Place Swinford “The Procession of the Souls” is a memorial dedicated to the history of the Great famine in Swinford Co Mayo. The memorial is designed and constructed by Travis Price and his students from the school of Architecture & Planning/Spirit of Place-Spirit of Design in Washington USA. The memorial is being constructed on the site of the Famine & Paupers Graveyard which has been under restoration by Swinford Tidy Towns since 2012.

Spirit of Place Swinford 2015

Travis and his team of students first arrived in Swinford in January 2015 to learn about the history of the Famine workhouse and graveyard. On the Monday morning the group were given a tour of all the historical sites in Swinford by local historians Michael Comer and Michéal Murphy. Some members from Swinford Tidy Towns committee also accompanied the group on the tour, along with Cllr Michael Smyth, some students from Scoil Muire & Padraig and Danny O’Toole (Mayo Co Co project manager). As well as a tour of the town, the group were also brought to the old Protestant Graveyard, the handball alley, the Church, the old fever hospital, the Famine Plot and the Paupers Graveyard.

The Spirit of Place Swinford installation will be the initiation of a larger project by Mayo County Council linking all the heritage sites around Swinford.

Guiding poetic for project design composed by Spirit of Place students for “Procession of the Souls”

Trudging midst cradled shadowsSnarled beneath shrouded tumultDrenched in malevolent deceitWrithing anguished, scarred and fractured into eroding massesEchoing glimmers of unsung brilliance beckons

Travis and his team arrived in Swinford on Sunday the 28th July to a warm welcome and music by our local musicians from Swinford Comhaltas. They began construction of “The Procession of the Souls” memorial the following day. The Spirit of Place Swinford installation was completed two weeks later. A public unveiling and opening ceremony will be held on Friday the 10th July. There will be a dedication mass held at the memorial and there will be a community celebration held in the Cultural Centre afterwards.

Spirit of Place Students design & build;

Mo Akbar, John Allen, Paloma Arroyo-Lefebre, Thomas Amato, Alexandra Barrera-Aguirre, Gabriella D’Angelo, Sara Gordon, Megan Gregory, Stephen Klinges, Emily O’Loughlin, Sina Moayedi, Geraldine Munnelly, Gabrielle Oakes, Patrick Ottalini, Alba Quintanilla, Veronica Perez, Azita Soltanifar, Hanna Tsimmermam, Victoria Wallace, Michael William Warner, Caitlin Watson.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Spirit Of Place Swinford Construction 2015

View more Spirit of Place designs and installations in Mayo and around the world here.

Sponsored by BizSpace.ie