Ciara Hennessy

'Fréamhacha Labhartha' (Spoken Roots) explores the resilience and resurgence of the Irish language through a mixed-media installation combining sculpture and video. A wire head forms the central structure, a depiction of the “mother tongue” reimagined. Paper flowers made from Irish literature, bloom from the mouth, symbolising the living, blossoming nature of the language: delicate, beautiful, and continually expanding.

The accompanying video features Bríde De Róiste and Shane Hennessy, whose reflections offer a personal lens into the language’s place in contemporary life. Their voices challenge the narrative of decline, revealing instead a language that adapts, survives, and thrives.

The aim is to celebrate the Irish language not as a relic of the past, but as something dynamic and growing. Something that is nurtured by community, identity, and shared expression. Through this fusion of form and fluency, Fréamhacha Labhartha invites reflection on how language shapes, and is shaped by, those who speak it.