Refuge

The ruins of Moore Hall provide a nursery space for a colony of Lesser Horseshoe bats, a species confined to only six western counties (Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Kerry). This place of shelter has been designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

Wild mammals and humans share the same dwelling requirements needed to thrive.

This sculpture considers the conceptual understanding that there are three domains which constitute a 'home':
1) Having an adequate dwelling over which a person and his/her family can exercise exclusive possession - Physical domain

2) Being able to maintain privacy and enjoy relations - Social domain 

3) Having a legal title to occupation - Legal domain

(Reference: ETHOS - European Typology on Homelessness and Housing Exclusion)

Artwork was created as a reaction to precarious places of shelter available for wildlife and humans in this age of mass displacement. The sculpture is a distillation of a concept that incorporates elements of the Mayo landscape and social history associated with protection such as ringforts, wool and red felt.