I Can Colour Between The Lines But I Choose Not To

I Can Colour Between The Lines But I Choose Not To is a three part project. Part one was a period of engagement and discovery with residents of Knocknaheeny between autumn 2017 and summer 2018.

Part two was realised as a community installation and performances at 46 Kilmore Road in June 2018.

Part three in autumn 2024 is a re-engagement with the community and the installation of tile-murals in a new site on Foyle Avenue. This tile-mural includes images taken during workshops, installations and performances in spring 2018, as well as a series of photographs of cherry blossoms taken in Knocknaheeny.

4 - 6 September 2024
Re-connecting: Mark Storor will spend time at Foyle Avenue, Knocknaheeny, meeting with residents, reconnecting and recollecting on the I Can Colour... project.

26 September 2024
I Can Colour... tile-mural launch event and planting of cherry trees in Foyle Avenue.

View the tile mural brochure by clicking here.

There was a special significance of blossom throughout the project, during the creative process some residents described themselves symbolically as cherry trees. The petals on the blossom representing aspects of people’s stories and memories; vivid, delicate, fragile. The seasons come and go. The blossom falls. A natural process of letting go; of rest, of renewal, of remembrance. The tree evolves, changes occur, yet it stands firm. There is abundant new growth. It can flourish.

A collaboration between residents and artists of Knocknaheeny, artist Mark Storor, photographer Stephen King, produced by Cork Midsummer Festival and commissioned by Cork City Council as part of the North West Quarter Regeneration Project, I Can Colour Between The Lines But I Choose Not To is a unique testament to the creativity, imagination, kindness, resourcefulness, hospitality, and the joy of the people who live in Knocknaheeny.

2017 - 2018 Engagement & Community Installation

I can colour between the lines but choose not to was an installation / performance created by residents and artists from Knocknaheeny, and guests Mark Storor and Stephen King from 2017 - 2018, taking place in a house in Knocknaheeny.

Nestled between two family homes, somewhere betwixt and be - tween, an unoccupied house stands overlooking the next phase of development. The walls of the former home echo with the murmurs of a generation. Voices like smoke rise from the chimney piercing the sunrise. A woman, breathes for her husband whilst a teenage lad with the help of others, nurtures the wasted space that someone told him he was. He blossoms vivid. Ravens whirl, back and forth overhead, calling. Tumbling boys keep the world turning. Girls, mature beyond their years with imaginations freed and words in abundance know no bounds. They rewrite tired fairytales and liberate their sisters. A man gives you the shirt off his back, another stirs the pot and sings for the supper. The heron is the only bird that can look you in the eye. All we ask is that you know why.

This installation represented the second part of a three phase work, timed to coincide with Cork Midsummer Festival 2018. Commissioned by Cork City Council through the Cork City North West Quarter Regeneration Project as part of the % for Art Scheme, funded by the Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government.

A Cork Midsummer Festival project. Commissioning managed by the National Sculpture Factory with input from Create.