Buaile – A photography exhibition by Alan Tobin, April 9th – April 25th
Launch – Thursday April 9th, 6pm
Buaile is a photographic meditation on booleying – one of Ireland’s forgotten pastoral customs – in the Galtee mountains. Booleying is the Irish term for transhumance, which involves moving livestock seasonally between lowland and upland pastures. In Ireland, this tradition allowed farmers to graze cattle in the uplands during summer, taking advantage of the seasonal growth at higher altitudes, and freeing up lowland fields for crop cultivation and the cutting hay.
While in the uplands, the main pursuit was dairying and butter production, though a range of other economic pursuits existed alongside the growing of potatoes, for example, and the cutting of peat, as herders strove to make the most of their summer in the hills.
What fascinates most about booleying is its semi-nomadic nature. Herders lived for months in a small stone hut called a buaile (‘booley’ in English). This unique pattern of seasonal settlement has vanished from the mainstream historical record, yet the remains of these dwellings still dot the Galtee landscape. Buaile documents these spaces and invites reflection on cultural memory, land use, and the rhythms of rural life.