An Dorchadas (The Darkness) is a current project emerging from Din’s PhD research into folklore, emigration and design. RMIT Supervisors: A/Prof James Oliver and Dr Brigid Magner.
The first part of this project (CoC) was presented at the Practice Research Symposium at RMIT Design Hub in Melbourne in October 2023, and focused on the main findings from genealogy, immigration records, and familial links to the Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann (National Folklore Collection) at University College Dublin.
The second part (2MR), presented at RMIT PRS in October 2024, focused on the fieldwork undertaken in Ireland (April–June 2024), and presented the first publication: a book of AI visual ideations based on Din’s non/fiction narrative that responds to historical events and 19th century folklore from Western Ireland.
The third part (3MR) will be presented at PRS Australia on 23 October 2025, and will feature new creative artefacts including a reflexive research journal, a collection of fieldwork photography, and a 90-card oracle deck and guidebook.
Follow the project on Instagram.
Abstract:
Irish/Australian folklore, migration and alienation: Decolonising creative practice and positionality through speculative non/fiction writing and publication design.
This creative practice research expands critical understandings of Australian identity in relation to Irish emigration in the nineteenth century. It explores alienated histories, partly shaped by the destruction of genealogical records through war, and partly by cultural oppression and generational trauma transmitted through colonisation across the former empire.
Gaeilge, the Irish language, and the ‘Old Ways’ endured in rural Ireland despite centuries of imperial rule. In the mid 1800s, the Great Hunger saw millions die of starvation, while millions more escaped Ireland to the USA, Canada, India and Australia, bringing folklore and folk songs with them as a form of cultural resilience and identity tied to a home they left behind.
In the late nineteenth century, Celtic Revivalists like Wilde, Yeats, and Gregory popularised folklore across the diaspora. After many centuries of uprisings and wars, Ireland finally achieved its independence. In the 1930s, the Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann was established to collect folklore and music, preserving what was seen as a disappearing culture. Research into this vast archive at University College Dublin revealed previously unknown ancestral connections to the folklore of Western Ireland, grounding this study, guiding the fieldwork, and shaping the creative works.
An Dorchadas (The Darkness) embraces the darker aspects of the Irish participation in the colonisation of Djarra Country–Central Victoria through a suite of publications including: a reflexive journal; a field photography collection; a dark folklore compendium; an oracle deck and guidebook; a book of visual ideations; and a speculative novella. These works demonstrate ways that creative practice can extend cultural memory.
Keywords: Mid-19th Century, Irish Emigration, Australian Immigration, Irish Diaspora, Irish Folklore, Australian Folklore, Language, Alienation, Historical Fiction, Folk Horror, Artificial Intelligence, Image Ideation, Visual Storytelling, Publication Design.