Lucy O’Kane

Milbél (“Honey Mouth”) is a sculptural exploration of the deep relationship between the Celtic people and the landscape they inhabited. Drawing on the symbolic triad of bees, trees and druids, the work reflects the interconnectedness of human and more-than-human worlds. Rooted in concerns around the detachment of Irish culture and heritage through colonisation, occupation and gentrification, the piece considers language as a primary site of cultural identity. The erosion of language often precedes the loss of customs, beliefs and indigenous knowledge systems. Using beeswax as a binding material, Milbél encases hand-cast representations of the trees associated with the Ogham alphabet, arranged to spell the seanfhocal “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam” (“A country without a language is a country without a soul”). Through this work, I seek to recover overlooked narratives and celebrate Ireland’s native cultural heritage.