Tóch | Dig
Shane
Nominated by
Shane

‘Tóch I Dig’ is a phased intergenerational community engagement project, initiated by three artists interested in working with communities of place and interest connected to bogs in north Kildare, Ireland.
The project has three phases. Developing organically, the outcome of each phase will inform the direction of the following one. The project explores the effects of climate change on communities past, present and future.
During Phase 1 oral history and visual material were gathered through engagement with local peatland communities. Interviews were conducted with local people about their experiences, memories and stories relating to the bog.
‘Tóch I Dig’ was conceived as an intergenerational and interdisciplinary phased project, targeting participants with existing or new connections to the peatlands. While Phase I has been firmly rooted in the past, Phase II and III will move towards the present and the future of the bog. Subsequent phases will encourage a reimagining of peatlands using the oral history archive as a starting point, leading to intergenerational discourse, interaction and a speculative future for the bog as a location of relevance to future communities.
Archival images and materials contributed by Dermot Lenehan, Alle Hamstra, John McGrath, Larry Dunne, Martin Keenan and Ann Kavanagh.
The Artist

Shane
Nominated in
2025
By
Shane
Lives and Works in
Kildare, Ireland
Irish artist Shane Hynan holds an MFA in Photography (Ulster University, 2019). His practice centres on photography with experimental elements in sound, video, collage, and sculpture. The metaphorical exploration of place, land and architecture is a significant subtext throughout his work. He draws upon conceptual, performative and subjective documentary approaches and works primarily with analogue photography processes as it enhances an emotional and intuitive connection with landscape and topography. He has shown his work extensively in Ireland and received multiple awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, Creative Ireland, and Kildare Arts. He has exhibited internationally in China, Germany, and the UK, and was shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society IPE162, IPE163 and IPE166. In 2024 he undertook residencies at the Centre Culturel Irlandais (Paris, France), and at the Roscommon Arts Centre (Roscommon, Ireland).
More projects by this artist
2025
Beneath | Beofhód
'Beneath | Beofhód' explores the culture and landscape of bogs in the Irish midlands. Beofhód, an Irish word meaning ‘life beneath the sod’, evokes the primal, totemic place of bogs in Celtic culture. The project contemplates social and environmental justice alongside a topographical mapping of peatlands, and a metaphorical exploration of the pre-Christian reverence for elemental energies in the landscape.
Drawing on Hynan’s authentic connection with his local community and landscape, the work traces the remnants of industrial peat harvesting which brought economic benefits and formed a strong sense of cultural identity in the region. However, urgent ecological imperatives have created tensions between the remaining small-scale harvesting of the bog and the need to protect and enhance peatland habitat and biodiversity.
The work explores the de-industrialisation of the bog; where large-scale peat extraction has ceased, alongside smaller scale turf cutting by communities; still harvesting turf for domestic use. More recent explorations include resurgent landscapes where bogs are actively being restored by communities and Bord na Móna as well as the construction of new wind and solar farms on peatlands.
The intention of the work is to show an ancient connection with the landscape, enabling today’s bogland to be re-imagined as both an engagement with the past, and a potent site for climate action in the present. It contemplates the transition in perceptions and use of peatlands and the subsequent social, environmental, economic and cultural impact on the midland’s region.
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