Here come the girls!
Back: youth worker Elizabeth Connors, Ellen Connors, Bridget Connors, Cllr Pat Codd, Mary Connors, Nora Ann Connors, Michael Fortune and Aileen Lambert. Front: youth developement worker Dubhain Kavanagh,Annie Connors, Josie Connors, Nellie Murphy and...
GIRLZONE is the name of a group of teenage Traveller girls from Taghmon who have produced a series of short films which were launched in DVD form last week.
The girls worked over a five-month period with the artists Aileen Lambert and Michael Fortune to make the DVD entitled 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun', which includes a collection of contemporary folklore and superstition from within the Traveller community.
The project was officially launched by Wexford County Council member Pat Codd at a screening event in the Taghmon Family Resource Centre last Friday evening.
Girlzone comprises 14 Traveller girls aged between 12 and 18 who meet for two hours a week in the Resource Centre to improve their life skills and self-confidence in a fun way.
In the past, they have done cookery, sewing and embroidery classes, horticultural activities, dance, and arts and crafts.
On the film project, they learned about acting, stop-motion animation techniques, lighting and camera work.
The subjects of the films on the DVD range from cooking chocolate eclairs and spaghetti bolognese to a short film set in the Resource Centre and a collection of songs and folkore.
The Girlzone initiative was funded and supported by the County Council, the Arts Council, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, Taghmon Action Group and Taghmon Family Resource Centre.
The two Wexford artists who worked on the project have also been busy with other Irish and international work recently.
A video work by Michael was presented at this year's Supermakert Art Fair in Stockholm, Sweden, from February 19 to 21, while he also had one of his community-based films shown in the German city of Karlsruhe.
Aileen's most recent initiative was a new film and web-based project called 'Click Click' with the Irish Wheelchair Association Youth Service and the Tallaghtfornia Foróige Club, which was showcased at the end of January.
- Maria PEPPER
