Through an interplay of storytelling, animation, music, and poetry, Twinsome Minds – which takes its title from a phrase in the novel Finnegans Wake – re-imagines a series of micro-narratives surrounding 1916 in Dublin and the WWI battlefields of Belgium. The stories and images of eclipsed history concentrate on twinned pairs – family members, neighbors, school friends, lovers – who ended up on opposite sides during this time of great upheaval in British-Irish relations. The various scenes explore crossings of memory and imagination, anecdote and legend, history and myth – as well as loyalty and love.

Performed and created by philosopher Richard Kearney and moving images multi-media artist Sheila Gallagher, Twinsome Minds: Recovering 1916 mines what is often lost behind official historical accounts and acts of commemoration, and proposes a transformative work of interpreting the Rising for a new generation. Commissioned by The Abbey Theatre, Dublin

Richard Kearney is a writer, philosopher and broadcaster. He has published over thirty books on European and Irish culture, including The Crane Bag Book of Irish Studies(1984), Post nationalist Ireland (1999) and Navigations: Collected Irish Essays 1977-2007. He has also published two novels and a volume of poetry. He teaches philosophy at Boston College and is founder director of the International Guestbook Project: Exchanging Stories, Changing History.

Sheila Gallagher is an Associate Professor of Fine Art at Boston College where she teaches courses on drawing, painting and contemporary art practice. Her work takes many forms including video, flower installations, smoke paintings and computer-aided drawing. Gallagher's work has been shown at such venues as The Institute of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Dodge Gallery, NYC, and Wellesley College. With Professor Richard Kearney she directs Guestbook, a creative peace-building initiative for youths to exchange stories in divided communities.