Sheela-na-gigs are ancient stone carvings of female figures with bare ribs, emaciated bodies and enlarged vulvas found near churches and monastic sites throughout Ireland. Sheela is enigmatic, her moods range from aggressive to serene, she is a witness to the Irish landscape. From the late pagan period to the present she has witnessed the English colonial project in Ireland and the suppression of women by patriarchal institutions. She is still there witnessing Ireland in its latest incarnation as a globalized country. Sheela is an abject female activist, she stares back at us through history…silent. To give her voice, to give her music requires an aesthetics of damage, a broken form for a fractured past…

 

HAG is the 7th of the eleven movements of Dwyer’s SacrumProfanum. It is perhaps the most explicit and abject—the flutist embodies the Sheela, expressing her anger and defiance through a visceral dramatic narrative performed through the instrument, which is echoed and amplified by the (mostly) improvised bowed-guitar playing. The flute part is largely scored using elements of graphic and gestural notation. The guitarist is required to read the flute part, creating a dynamic interplay where composition and improvisation blur. This is a key element of the piece: the guitarist’s use of gesture, energy and abject sound in response to the flute in real-time.