The Pincer Jaws of Heaven at the Patrick Kavanagh Centre

”The Pincer Jaws of Heaven” is an immersive triple-projection that connects visitors to the raw power of Kavanagh’s words, and the places, and landscapes that inspired them. The Patrick Kavanagh Centre is located in Inneskeen, County Monaghan, Ireland, and commemorates the poet Patrick Kavanagh.

Background

The Life and Yearnings of Ireland’s Ploughman Poet A Multipurpose Cultural Centre The self-educated poet and novelist, Patrick Kavanagh, came from a humble farming background in the small village of Iniskeen, County Monaghan. His unsentimental take on rural Ireland made him the best-loved Irish poet of the mid-20th Century. He explored the everyday aspects, of life, and its frustrations. His simple grave is in the churchyard in Iniskeen. A new parish church was built in 1974, so later the old one was converted into a museum in Kavanagh’s honour.

The Museum

For 25 years it was sustained by enthusiastic local volunteers. It is difficult to keep a tourist attraction open all year round that is financially dependent on outside visitors when it is off the beaten track. So Monaghan County Council took over the centre in 2018 to take advantage of new presentation technologies to create a more sustainable multipurpose venue. Music, poetry and amateur theatricals form a central part of communal life in rural Ireland. So the central exhibition space was ingeniously re-designed and equipped to work as an exhibition gallery; a reading lounge; and a flexible performance space for seminars, dramas, film showings, musical, cultural and social events. A new interactive multimedia exhibition wraps around a curtained off theatrical stage with as centrepiece: The Pincer Jaws of Heaven. The centrepiece includes works read by Kavanagh, and an eclectic selection of local friends, associates, and fellow poets.

See short introduction to centre at https://www.patrickkavanaghcentre.com