Available Now at MayoBooks.ie
“It is this combination of history, images, and personal connection to the landscape that makes the book a success, because it details how contemporary the past still feels in many parts of Ireland. ”
In 1938 Irish Republican Ernie O’Malley returned to his childhood home of Mayo with his American wife, artist Helen Hooker. They made their home at Burrishoole Lodge, near Newport on the northern shore of Clew Bay. The couple set out examining life in rural Ireland and began to compile an extensive collection of photographs of the people in Mayo, capturing their way of life and the environment that surrounded them.
This unique visual record has been drawn together, along with excerpts from Ernie’s writings on Mayo and an extensively researched explanatory text to provide a fascinating picture of the people of Mayo, their daily existence and the rugged but beautiful landscape that shaped their lives.
This book should be of interest to anyone who cares about the cultural history of western Ireland or more globally, an Ireland that has since disappeared into the mists of time.
“The photos are black and white, but are coloured by a nostalgia for times past.”
— The Sunday Business Post
Ernie O’Malley
Ernie O’Malley, born in Castlebar in 1897, is a renowned military figure from Ireland’s fight for independence. He wrote three books about his War of Independence and Civil War experiences: On Another Man’s Wound, The Singing Flame and Raids and Rallies.
He also contributed to 20th century Irish culture as a critic, patron, and friend to some of Irish Modernism’s most noted artists. He died in March 1957 and was given a state funeral.
Helen Hooker
Helen Hooker was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1905. She married Ernie O’Malley in 1935 and moved to Ireland with him. Primarily recognised as a sculptor, she was also a gifted painter, designer and photographer. In addition, she was a patron of the visual arts and created the O’Malley Art Collection currently loaned to the University of Limerick, some of which has been exhibited in Mayo over the years. She commissioned Peter Grant’s bronze sculpture of Manannan Mac Lir on Castlebar Mall and gifted it to the town in 1992. She died in 1993, leaving behind an extensive collection of her work including over 300 sculptures.