We Are With You To The End: New artwork unveiled at Tea Houses: Market Yard bus stop
This work builds on a body of work by Leah Corbett on public libraries
Have you spotted the new commission at the Market Yard bus stop in Kilkenny?
We Are With You To The End is a public intervention presented across the river from the former Carnegie Public Library at John’s Quay, which opened in 1910. The words are taken from Andrew Carnegie — a steel magnate and once the richest man in the world — who donated grants to build 66 libraries throughout Ireland.
This statement of solidarity is addressed not to Carnegie’s steel workers but to his business manager Henry Frick, encouraging Frick to take the necessary actions to break the union at the Homestead Steel Works Strike in 1892. Displayed here at the bus stop, the words become ambiguous, possibly being reinterpreted as a message of hope and collectivity.
Her practice explores the collective (re-)production of public space through site-specific projects, workshops and exhibition making. She works with artists, community groups and young people to realise projects which invite and support ways of being together. She is the Co-founder of artist-run organisation Muine Bheag Arts in Carlow and a former Co-director of Catalyst Arts in Belfast.
The project is kindly supported by Kilkenny Arts Office, Kilkenny County Council and Arts Council, Ireland.