The Gorse Motif

Gorse links the lovers’ intimacy with folklore, bad luck, bodily memory and Cushla’s later encounter with Michael’s absence.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The First Sprig

The First Sprig A gift from the hillside Michael gives Cushla gorse flowers and explains the belief that the gift brings bad luck to giver and receiver. The flowers stain her palm and release their coconut scent. Desire beside warning The gesture is tender and ominous at once. Cushla accepts the sprig even as she hears the warning, a pattern that echoes her willingness to enter a relationship already marked by risk.

Flowers in the Boiling Pot

Flowers in the Boiling Pot A household experiment Cushla boils eggs with gorse blossoms and watches their shells turn yellow. The flowers bring a private memory of Michael into the kitchen she shares with Gina. Intimacy made ordinary A romantic gift becomes part of domestic work. The transformation from wild plant to coloured eggs joins desire to the everyday routines Cushla cannot leave behind.

A Mark in the Palm

A Mark in the Palm Flowers pressed too tightly Michael fills Cushla’s hand with bruised blossoms, and the stems leave red marks in her palm. Their intimacy is physical, tender and difficult to separate from danger. A bodily memory The hand holds both the flower’s fragrance and its pressure. Later, Cushla will return to gorse when words and explanations fail her.

The Empty Lay-by

The Empty Lay-by Grief before the news Cushla drives toward Michael’s house, sees the police activity and turns back. In the lay-by she rubs a gorse flower while trying to steady herself. A warning fulfilled The old belief of bad luck feels newly intimate, though the flower did not cause the violence. Gorse becomes a way to hold grief that has no clear explanation.

Touching the Hollow Form

Touching the Hollow Form The remembered shoulder Cushla touches the sculpture’s arm and searches for the bump at Michael’s collarbone. The expected bodily detail is absent from the cold, hollow cast. Memory without possession The sculpture recalls his physical presence but cannot restore it. The gorse motif and the work’s emptiness meet in the problem of how a body survives as memory.

Spring 1975, on the hillside above Belfast Lough

Easter 1975, after Michael gives Cushla the gorse

Late spring 1975, after Cushla visits Michael’s flat

The evening Cushla visits Michael’s home village

2015, during Cushla’s gallery visit