The search for the mythical island of Hy-Brasil, believed to be located somewhere off the Connemara coast, is the focus of a new documentary to be broadcast on TG4 later this month.
Ag Lorg Hy-Brasil (In Search of Hy-Brasil ) also explores how this island inspired the Irish exhibit at the 2023 Architecture Biennale in Venice.
Islands by their nature are sustainable environments. As Ireland, an island nation, faces up to the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the transition to renewable energies, the experience of island life will harden ways in which we can utilise the necessary tools and narratives to inspire more sustainable ways of living.
Primarily filmed on Inis Meáin and in Venice, Ag Lorg Hy-Brasil contemplates the textures and rhythms of island life, and what it means to be an islander today. It looks at culture and traditions, and their connectedness. It brings to the fore the symbiotic relationship that exists between islanders, their land, and the sea, and how their existences are formed and shaped by raw materials.
Ag Lorg Hy-Brasil considers these themes through the work of architects Peter Carroll, Mary Laheen, Peter Cody, Elizabeth Hatz, and Joseph Mackey who each brought their impressions of island life to the 2023 Irish exhibit at the Architecture Biennale in Venice. In their exhibit, they pondered ways in which we could draw on the connections that islanders have with their elemental surroundings.
The key individuals involved in the exhibit include not only architects, but also farmers, stone engravers, rope artists, and textile producers. The documentary observes the merging of these skills and components; indeed, the concept purports to show how pure and organic architecture is, especially given the constraints of a desolate Irish landscape.
The film ponders the exigencies of island life, questioning how people elsewhere in Ireland could tackle climate change by living more sustainably and being more self-sufficient, as islanders have had to be. Finally, it poses the inevitable question: ‘Where exactly is Hy-Brasil? And what significance, if any, does it hold for us today?’
Ag Lorg Hy-Brasil will be broadcast on TG4 on Friday, October 24 at 7.30pm.
