Tread Softly 24: Monk

Tread Softly have set up this GoFundMe to bring this third and final collaboration between sculptor Bettina Seitz and videographers Peter Martin and Fionn Rogers to the festival this summer.

We need your help to complete this new film project commissioned for our 2024 festival.

The Project

Monk is the final part of a series of works that began in 2020 with Underwave (Seitz/Rogers) and Ancestors in 2021 (Seitz/Martin/Rogers). Each of these projects comprised several short films; and each episode was presented as a live-streamed event over a number of evenings during Tread Softly. Each series exceeded 100k full views.

This new work, Monk, reflects on rituals and spirituality of early Christian monks living in isolated monastic settlements off the west coast of Ireland from the 6th century.

The sculptural pieces for Monk, created from natural fabrics and wax, are representationally human in form. They will be filmed on-site by videographers Peter Martin and Fionn Rogers. Their presence, and the film's story, is intended to achieve a way for audiences to engage with, and imagine, both the lives lived by monks on the island and the timeless practices of ritual and spiritual searching present in all cultures.

The first two parts of this series have demonstrated broad appeal reaching well beyond the art going public. The completion of the series will result in an important long-term cultural and artistic legacy.

Monk will be launched to the public during Tread Softly 2024 at the Hamilton Gallery, Sligo on the 3rd of August.

Context

Tread Softly is uniquely concerned with facilitating collaborative projects between professional artists living in the Northwest working from themes of landscape and deep history.

Please donate what you can.

With very best wishes, the Tread Softly Festival team.