Archiving Hope explores a post-industrial West Cork gravel pit. It is a deep mapping and sensing investigation into the vibrations of life in this temporarily abandoned space and an archive of this new ecological environment. It is in essence a holding place.
This disused 40-acre West Cork gravel pit is a momentary island refuge amidst the industrial-agricultural landscape. It is part man-made lake and part biological desert, a space that has been stripped of thousands of years of its ecological and geological history, in essence, it is a new space exposed by extraction now ready once again for occupation and rebirth. The documentation of this magical tranistion was brought to Cork County Hall foyer.
Image by John Beasley
Image by John Beasley
Kindly opened by Christopher O Sullivan, minister for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity. October 2025.
Image by Roland Paschoff.
Fiona Hayes Art 