Some images from my recent commission for the Royal Irish Academy as part of the Ogham project in collaboration with Maynooth University and University of Glasgow. The artwork is based on the Book of Ballymote, it is a modern retelling of the scholars primer, with Cenn Faeladh getting his brain of Oblivion smashed out of him with an AI drone rather than a sword at the battle of Moira. Many more details to follow…………. here’s an article on it in the Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2024/11/06/ogham-thoughts-frank-mcnally-on-a-new-artwork-an-old-alphabet-and-the-longest-word-in-irish/
Dr Deborah Hayden Department of Early Irish Maynooth University .Photo by Siobhan Taylor 
Artist Thomas Keyes presenting artwork at the Royal Irish Academy. Photo by Siobhan Taylor 
Dr David Schifter Department of Early Irish at Maynooth University Photo by Siobhan Taylor 
Dr Pat Guiry President of the Royal Irish Academy. Photo by Siobhan Taylor 
5th November 2024; Department of Early Irish at Maynooth University and the Department of Celtic & Gaelic at the University of Glasgow warmly welcome the Art Launch of the Ogham and the Manuscripts of the Royal Irish Academy by Artist Thomas Keyes at the Royal Irish Academy. Photo by Siobhan Taylor 
5th November 2024; Department of Early Irish at Maynooth University and the Department of Celtic & Gaelic at the University of Glasgow warmly welcome the Art Launch of the Ogham and the Manuscripts of the Royal Irish Academy by Artist Thomas Keyes at the Royal Irish Academy. Photo by Siobhan Taylor
Anrocomraircnicsiumairne
This piece of art is a contemporary illuminated version of the Old Irish Scholars’ Primer (Auraicept na nÉces) contained in the Book of Ballymote (Royal Irish Academy MS 23 P 12). It takes its title from the word, anrocomraircnicsiumairne, meaning ‘all the mistakes which we have committed’, which is quoted as an example for the longest word in Irish in the Primer.
The Primer provides an origin story for the Irish language that is imbedded in biblical universal history. It serves as a warning of man’s relationship with technology and the power of the written word. In the artwork, the Tower of Babel is being rebuilt as the name Neamruad (i.e. Nimrod) in 3D graffiti ogham in a dystopian Dublin with three flaming towers (from the coat of arms of the city), as the citizens climb up in
‘an attempt on heaven in their fleshly bodies without the permission of God’ (Triall for neam ina corpaib collaidib gan comairlechudh fri Dia. G. Calder, Auraicept na nÉces, 1917, 8–9).
The citizens, represented by a range of anthropomorphic letters from the manuscript, are following the most extreme, modern version of the mantra, initiated by writing, that now
‘the present time is put for all times’ (Praesens tempus pro omnibus temporibus ponitur. ibid.)
as they record themselves and scroll the internet on smartphones.
The four authors of the Primer are represented in the artwork: Cenn Fáelad has his brain of oblivion smashed out of him by an AI drone in a contemporary re-imagining of the event at the Battle of Moira (Mag Rath) in 637 that caused his brain of forgetting to drip out, leading him to permanently record Irish culture in writing from that point on. Fénius Farsaid, creator of the Irish language, is at the bottom of the tower inscribing a warning in ogham into the ground, while Amairgen sits on the 3D ogham alongside Ferchertne who is mentioned before him in the Book of Ballymote.
The artwork is made on vellum (calf skin), produced to the same specifications as that used for the Book of Ballymote. Behind the first bifolio another one can be seen through a hole in the vellum that has been caused by lunellum damage during processing the skin, and through the translucent patches caused by inconsistent tension when the skin was being stretched. The original ink and pigments found in the Book of Ballymote – a tannin-based black ink, orpiment, verdigris, red lead and vermillion – have been used alongside spray paint and graffiti markers for the contemporary additions. The outer frame is in yew with bog oak forming the lower triangle; birch-smoked parchment over pine constitutes the upper triangle.
Some of the other things to look out for in the painting include the oghams for the 17 named kings who built the Tower of Babel, DNA ogham, logo ogham, barbed wire ogham and plenty of biblical references to ground the narrative within universal history, so carefully crafted by generations of scribes, to warn us against our own hubris.
Some of the Christian symbolism, Christ as the beggar that recieves half of Saint Martins cloak 
Cenn Faelad having his ‘brain of oblivion smashed out of him’, at the battle of Moira 
AN exact copy of the Incipit of the Scholars primer makes up the background, oak bark ink on calf skin vellum 
Fenius Farsaid outside the tower inscribing ogham 
Stitch ogham spelling ‘lathairte’, from 9th century marginalia ogham meaning hangover
Some images of the original Scholars Primer in the Book of Ballymote written around 1390.
