UNDER RESEARCH: ABOVE THE SNOWLINE

Above The Snowline, a psycho-meteorological inquiry builds on a curiosity and preoccupation of talking about the weather. And though the weather varies greatly from here to there, it is, ultimately ‘one-weather’ that we share. This is especially pertinent, seeping deep within the psyche when living in remote and exposed areas. The uplands of north-east County Kilkenny, an area reaching 1000 ft. above sea level, between Johnswell, Castlewarren and Muckalee is one such place where I live. The project aim is to record one hundred people talking about the weather from this upland region. These ‘reports’ form a kind of collective portrait, a psycho-meteorology communicated by the distinctive voices and experiences. These weather reports will include descriptions, reflections, memories and stories based on experiences of the weather. These testimonies range from the remarkable to the ordinary, the mundane to the marvelous, the provincial to the worldly and the philosophical to the didactic. The different nuances and usages of language, along with the idioms and mannerisms of each individual when talking about the weather suggest that the weather is more than simply a state of the atmosphere with regard to meteorological conditions – the weather is a metaphor for a metaphysical, political, social and moral energy of a person and a place.