News from Home offers a unique view of Ballygar

News from Home, a film from artist Louise Manifold will be screened at Ballygar Courthouse this Saturday, January 19, at 7pm.

Louise’s film explores the connections between local landmarks and the lyrics of Ballygar’s most famous composer and bandmaster, P.S. Gilmore, as a way of framing the town’s past and current architecture. Gilmore (1829-92), who was reared in Ballygar and emigrated to the USA, wrote the lyrics to the song Johnny Comes Marching Home.

“Drawing inspiration from the ground up, I developed a unique once-off event for video that looks like many things,” says Louise.

Her film piece features the “Kelly family’s legacy of architectural follies, the solid stone round tower and the demolished Market House that was originally in the square, alongside the construction for the town’s pavilion”, she adds.

To create News from Home, Louise worked with fellow artist Sheila Flanagan, who runs the Ballygar ArtFarm residency space, as well as with Thomas Kenny of Ballygar Tidy Towns and 12 young people from Youthwork Ireland.

The 12 created a short chorus for the film, playing drums and other percussion instruments. Louise included drumming in the video because of the Gilmore connection and because this musical form is often used to instil morale and courage.

Drawing on local history and on architectural plans for the future of Ballygar’s bandstand, Louise’s aim was to create a thought-provoking and humorous film that invited audiences to reflect on their own place – past and present, she explains.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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