New film and sound installation will explore maritime heritage of Waterford coastal village

A new immersive film and sound installation exploring the people, memories and maritime heritage of Dunmore East will be presented at the village’s lighthouse platform on Culture Night, Friday, September 18.

'Dunmore Through a Lens' will transform one of Waterford Harbour’s most distinctive locations through a combination of archive photographs, home movies, recorded voices, atmospheric sound and newly filmed footage.

The free public installation is the first project to be presented by DuMo Collective, a project based creative collaboration bringing together artists, filmmakers and local contributors to create work rooted in Dunmore East. 

The project was developed by filmmaker Morgan Bushe and Nora Boland, in collaboration with Dunmore East projection designer, illustrator and filmmaker Neil O’Driscoll.

Mr O’Driscoll’s work spans projection and video design, illustration and film and his recent credits include 'Cunning Little Vixen' and 'The Flying Dutchman', for Irish National Opera, 'The Importance of Being Earnest', at the Lyric Theatre Belfast and 'The Last Moth', at The Ark. 

His personal and family connections to Dunmore East’s fishing community have also helped shape the installation’s visual and emotional approach.

Presented across multiple screens, those behind the installation say it will create a cinematic portrait of a harbour community shaped by fishing, work, family, danger, celebration and change.

Images and voices from different generations will move across the harbour setting, bringing the past and present of Dunmore East into conversation with one another.

Rather than presenting the history of the village through a conventional documentary or museum format, the creative team has worked with local residents, fishing families, archivists and community contributors to build the piece from personal memories and lived experience.

Commenting on the project Morgan Bushe said: “Dunmore East has an extraordinary visual and maritime history, but what interested us most was the opportunity to tell that story through the voices and personal material of the people who have lived it.

"We want the harbour itself to become part of the experience rather than simply being the backdrop to it."

Morgan went on to comment: “DuMo Collective gives us a way to bring artists and the local community together around original projects rooted in the village. Dunmore Through a Lens is the first step in that ambition and we hope the work Neil is creating for the harbour can have a life beyond this first presentation and travel to galleries, festivals and cultural spaces in Ireland and internationally.” 

Meanwhile, Nora Boland said the project was "grounded in the people of Dunmore East and in the memories, photographs, films and stories that families have preserved over many years".

"These personal collections tell us so much about how the village and harbour have changed, but also about the character and resilience that remain," she said.

“We have been enormously grateful for the generosity and trust of everyone who has shared material or spoken with us," she added.

"Our hope is that local audiences will recognise their own history within the installation while also encountering familiar places and stories in a new way.” 

Neil O'Driscoll, who admitted to having a "deep personal connection to Dunmore East and its fishing community", said "It has been a privilege to help translate these stories and images into a work made specifically for the harbour."

"The setting, the sound of the sea and the presence of the lighthouse will all become part of the finished piece," he said.

'Dunmore Through a Lens' has been supported by Creative Ireland through the Creative Waterford programme and Waterford City and County Council.

The project team expressed gratitude to Katherine Collins, Creative Ireland Coordinator and Cultural Quarter Project Manager, and Thomas Dowling, Creative Communities Engagement Officer, along with the wider Creative Waterford team, for supporting the development of ambitious, community-led creative work in Waterford.

The team also acknowledged the residents, fishing families, local historians, archivists and community organisations whose photographs, footage, memories and practical assistance contributed to the installation.

'Dunmore Through a Lens' will be presented at the lighthouse platform in Dunmore East free of charge to the public and the opening address will take place at 8.15pm with screening times at 8.30pm, 9pm and 9.30pm.