Angelus - sand sculpture

I live on a little island off the west side of Europe. It is a country with a long history and has predominantly been a nation of Christians. This is even been enshrined in our constitution.

In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred,
We, the people of Éire,
Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial,

Of course, times have changed and now Ireland is a cosmopolitan home to many peoples and cultures. I was raised as a Catholic myself although nowadays I would not be a very strict follower of the church. Now, I may not be the best Christian but I do still follow one rule from all the teachings ' Treat others as you would have them treat you.' to be honest I think that if everyone followed that one simple rule we would be living in a much better world, whatever our religion or lack thereof.

The remnants of our catholic nation are slowly getting eroded one by one and in general, I am happy about that. As long as the changes respect the citizen's freedom to do whatever they want if it doesn't break the golden rule as stated above.

The bing bong song

There is one thing however that I am glad we have not scraped and that is the Angelus. Every 12pm and 6pm. Church bells will ring out and our national TV broadcaster will pause for a minute and give time for prayer. I look on this as more a tradition than as a holy inconvenience.

Every few years it bubbles to the surface again with some people wanting to stop it because of how they are insulted by this display of religion but for me, I am happy we keep it. Even with my non-religious tendencies, I have repurposed the time for a moment of reflection. It does not insult me that it can mean different things to different people.

I remember when I have visited Muslim countries and heard the 'Adhan' or 'Call to prayer' broadcast over the whole city with loudspeakers. I wasn't insulted and accepted that this was an important part of their tradition. Now, I may not be the best Muslim but I also used these moments as a time of reflection. To think about the bigger picture and mull over what the hell is life all about anyway.

Even when I have been to Isreal (back before I knew better) On the Sabbath the lift in our 15 story hotel would stop at each floor as you are not allowed to do any work like pressing buttons that day. Now, I may not be the best Jew but I used these long moments as another time of reflection. Allowing myself to slow down and ponder lives mysteries.

Rings a bell

Which, brings me to this sculpture. I was approached by a production company called Kairos in 2015. They had been tasked with revamping the Angelus broadcast for RTE (Radio Telfis Eireann) our national TV station and wanted to make a few short videos of different artists and craftspeople doing their thing to go along with the bells.

I was very honoured to be asked, especially as I knew my parents would be very proud. In my talks with the producer-director, I was happy to hear he was very much on the same wavelength as me. That it should be more nondenominational and that whatever I created should be a symbol that different people could appreciate and it shouldn't be a hard sell for the religion.

Freedom

I thought for a long time about it and consulted my family. Finally, my sister Aedin gave me the idea of making a bird. Now, I may not be the best sculptor but I really liked this idea. It is a great symbol of freedom and would only have the meaning which each person put into it. I developed the idea a bit further and decided to add some hands setting it free.

Primetime

For the day of the shoot, we choose the War Memorial Gardens as a location, I was unfamiliar with it and its meaning but it was nice, quiet and very picturesque. I only had around two hours to be in and out and so set about making my sculpture. The director let me at it and filmed the progress. It was all very peaceful although underneath I was rushing to get finished. In the end, I was happy enough, more time would have been nice although I knew there were other shots for the director to get in the can that day.

I liked how the whole thing came together in the edit and since it was first broadcast in September of 2015 it has been shown every Monday evening at 6 pm just before the main evening news. The other days of the week are a blacksmith, a bookbinder, a baker and on Friday there are 1 min short films submitted by the public.

It is nice to be part of this Irish institution. Everyone I meet and tell them I am a sand sculptor asks am I the guy from the Angelus, it is like my one minute of fame. I have even heard it referred to as 'Dangelus'. People think I am very religious but I tell them I just did it because they promised it would be my free ticket to heaven.

Now, I may not be the best thing on TV but it is something I am very proud of. Luckily, someone has uploaded it to Youtube so I can share it here. I never watch TV, that's a sin.

alt

Ps

Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.