“Here is a poem, a story, an animation, of a life triumphant under the weight of a debilitating illness M.E., of a woman whose words are her lifeline, an inspiration to others.” Dolores Ronayne, Poet.
Invisible Octopus
Corina Duyn received mentoring with Puppet Master Dr. Emma Fisher through the Arts & Disability Ireland Connect Scheme 2019. Corina’s aim was to convey the reality of life with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) using her existing puppets. Talking about shadow puppetry brought about the memory of a story she wrote about an invisible octopus. The Octopus became the story.
After some months Corina had to concede she wasn’t physically able to fulfil her plan. However when introduced to shadow puppetry she found a way to be totally independent to create her work. The resulting video poem is “an extraordinary and succinct illustration of life with ME”. (Réalta)
The ‘Invisible Octopus’ Poem (2.12 min) Read by Corina Duyn
To read more:
• Corina’s diary which she meticulously kept during the mentoring process can be explored at Corina’s Little Wings Creative Archive at Réalta, Centre for Arts + Health in Waterford.
• See a series of blog posts about the process of this project.
• The poem was edited with the support of poet Dolores Ronayne. The concertina style booklet was designed by David Murphy from Red Heaven Design.
• The series of 12 prints and video were showcased at exhibitions: ‘Ribbon of Light’ (2020); ‘I brought the dream of flying’ (2023) and Creative Brain Week (2023).
• See Transcript and Translations post for poem in English, Spanish, German, Dutch, and French.
• Dutch composer Luck Surus created an orchestral choral piece to the video poem.
• A slightly edited version of the poem has been published in the Anthology ‘Blij dat ik besta’, by Dutch Publisher Tobi Vroegh (2022)
