MEMORIAL GARDEN TO BE COMPLETED SOON
Memorial garden to be completed soon
BY ANNE PALMER
a.palmer@newsletter.co.uk
WORK on Omagh's ambitious memorial garden of light is progressing on schedule, with the central pool having been completed and the glass pillar for the crystal heart at the bomb site will arrive later this month.
The formal opening is expected to take place on August 15, the tenth anniversary of the Omagh bomb in which 31 lives were lost.
The 31 steel pillars to carry mirrors to reflect sunlight on to the heliostat in Market Street will be delivered this coming Monday. Each of the pillars will represent one of the atrocity's victims.
Following consultation Dublin-based design team of Desmond Fitzgerald, architect, and Sean Hillen, artist, were selected.
Artist Sean Hillen told the News Letter that the glass pillars are currently being manufactured, and that Tyrone Crystal is busy working on the cut glass heart and he expects all strands of the project to come together quickly.
Sean, originally from Newry, grew up in Northern Ireland, and was mindful of the Troubles in the creative process.
"It wasn't lost to me. I had that in mind," he said.
"One of the first things I did was to spend a long time studying the identity of each of the victims.
"This is a memorial, and I think it was the late Gordon Wilson who said the dead don't need memorials, it is the rest of us," he said.
"I tried to say something of what human beings are, and the enormity of loss," he said.
At the core of the design with mirrors and light is reflection and sun.
Sunlight bouncing from the mirrored garden pillars, will be reflected towards the cut glass heart illuminating it, at the site of the bomb in Market Street.
The heart will sparkle as changing light is reflected.
One theme of the artwork is that light unites us all in that it makes all life possible. The artwork attempts to express compassion for victims.
"Omagh has the lowest rate of sunlight than any other place in Ireland," he said.
Often the sun is not going to be visible, but that is part of the memorial's message - that the sun is going to rise again, he said.
"The theme in relation to the sun, goes back to Greek temples, aligned to sunlight and this runs all the way to Gothic temples or Newgrange. It is a very common heritage," he said.
The artist was trying to tie all these influences together.
Artistic parts of the memorial have been funded by the Arts Council, and no money for victims has been used, he said.
"It is a huge technological challenge, and has never been done before," he said.
"There is a kind of magic to it. You don't see sunlight, but you see it in mirrors and crystals. It should be wonderful," he said.
BY ANNE PALMER
a.palmer@newsletter.co.uk
WORK on Omagh's ambitious memorial garden of light is progressing on schedule, with the central pool having been completed and the glass pillar for the crystal heart at the bomb site will arrive later this month.
The formal opening is expected to take place on August 15, the tenth anniversary of the Omagh bomb in which 31 lives were lost.
The 31 steel pillars to carry mirrors to reflect sunlight on to the heliostat in Market Street will be delivered this coming Monday. Each of the pillars will represent one of the atrocity's victims.
Following consultation Dublin-based design team of Desmond Fitzgerald, architect, and Sean Hillen, artist, were selected.
Artist Sean Hillen told the News Letter that the glass pillars are currently being manufactured, and that Tyrone Crystal is busy working on the cut glass heart and he expects all strands of the project to come together quickly.
Sean, originally from Newry, grew up in Northern Ireland, and was mindful of the Troubles in the creative process.
"It wasn't lost to me. I had that in mind," he said.
"One of the first things I did was to spend a long time studying the identity of each of the victims.
"This is a memorial, and I think it was the late Gordon Wilson who said the dead don't need memorials, it is the rest of us," he said.
"I tried to say something of what human beings are, and the enormity of loss," he said.
At the core of the design with mirrors and light is reflection and sun.
Sunlight bouncing from the mirrored garden pillars, will be reflected towards the cut glass heart illuminating it, at the site of the bomb in Market Street.
The heart will sparkle as changing light is reflected.
One theme of the artwork is that light unites us all in that it makes all life possible. The artwork attempts to express compassion for victims.
"Omagh has the lowest rate of sunlight than any other place in Ireland," he said.
Often the sun is not going to be visible, but that is part of the memorial's message - that the sun is going to rise again, he said.
"The theme in relation to the sun, goes back to Greek temples, aligned to sunlight and this runs all the way to Gothic temples or Newgrange. It is a very common heritage," he said.
The artist was trying to tie all these influences together.
Artistic parts of the memorial have been funded by the Arts Council, and no money for victims has been used, he said.
"It is a huge technological challenge, and has never been done before," he said.
"There is a kind of magic to it. You don't see sunlight, but you see it in mirrors and crystals. It should be wonderful," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/764
Published Date: 04-Jul-08
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