Degree Show 2025

This project was a response to my extended essay which focused on folklore and local knowledge archives, investigating how material rooted in oral transmission is stored and accessed. As a visual response, I gathered material surrounding the tradition of seaweed gathering, focused on but not limited to the North Coast of Northern Ireland and two transcripts from the Cushendall area.

While seaweed gathering was once a prominent trade on the island for coastal communities, the tradition has largely faded. My essay chapter contextualises the risk of losing this knowledge that is so intimately connected with the land within traditional archival structures, contrasting with those archives that exist which aim to rectify this issue. The book is a response to this- rebuilding a narrative surrounding the tradition by only archival research and presenting it in a way which highlights the important connection to the land that it uncovers.

The book focuses on format as a means of communication, consisting of one main section combining a chapter of my essay with archival material, and a separate accordion bound section of transcripts typeset like the seashore, combined together in an envelope-style book cover made from seaweed paper. All material is sourced from the National Museums NI website and the Dúchas.ie website.