Elaine Byrne
Hanni’s House

Elaine Byrne’s 2012 video, Hanni’s House, draws on the emotive complexities surrounding memory and ruin, placing a nuanced spotlight on the allure of lived history and the passage of time. Realised during her residency as part of Askeaton Contemporary Arts’ Welcome to the Neighbourhood programme, her video pieces together a narrative around its’ previous occupant Hanni, a settled Traveller. Working closely with remaining objects still in the cottage and with Hanni’s nephew Willie Harty, a highly personal history unfolds of the locality, familial relations and the Traveller way of life. For sixteen minutes, Harty’s improvised monologue wistfully describes scenes, often bittersweet reminiscences of a now lost way of living, as footage of the cottage’s ruination is seen.

Running time: 16 min 14 sec.