Singer and artist Siobhán Kavanagh welcomes you to a discussion
about the joy of wild food and how she sources inspiration from wild
plants and flowers for songs. Come sample, taste and curiously
explore a selection of wild foraged tea. Wild food and knowledge is
present in traditional/folk song and for this workshop – participants are
invited to listen, learn and share song in a safe and welcoming
environment.
Artist Biography:
Siobhán Kavanagh is a vocal artist, composer and group facilitator
who works with sampled sound, song, performance art, installation
and visual storytelling. Siobhán’s work is deeply rooted in themes of
urban ecology, nature and community; writing songs and music
inspired by stories of social movements and peoples history.
Siobhán’s current project ‘Terrestrial Sounds’ connects with stories
from community garden members who reclaim and rewild green
space in Dublin City. Through a portable compost bin sound structure,
Siobhán broadcasts soundscape compositions that weave together
acoustic ecologies, sound bites from interviews and live song.
As a group facilitator. Siobhán hosts workshops that explore
traditional/folk song, foraging, vocal improvisation and various themes
such as ‘Songs of Birds and Nature’ Boyle Arts Festival 2026/IMMA
Harvest Festival 2025 and ‘Songs of Land & Resistance’ Cashel Arts
Fest 2022. ‘Song of Home’ is an audio/visual work produced with
artist Alisha Doody and members of LGBT+ Choir exploring themes of
‘home’. In 2025, Siobhán was awarded artist in residence at the
Guesthouse Project, Cork producing a new work titled ‘Sorrow Eaters’
– an indoor foraging workshop/performance inviting participants to
explore, taste, smell wild food and participate in a ritual song
performance.
Siobhán is an interdisciplinary performer working with musicians and
visual artists across disciplines, with a focused approach to
maintaining long term collaborations. Examples of this include:
composing, recording and performing traditional song for three major
artworks by Deirdre O’ Mahony that comment on the current
ecological crises impact on farmers, food sustainability and
production. These include: ‘Song of the Farmer and Dung Beetle’
(Eco Show Boat and Kunstverien Aughrim 2023); ‘The Quickening’
(Douglas Hyde Gallery 2024) and work in progress ‘Border Song’
2026. Collaborating on a number of projects with artist Kate O’Shea
(SEA Heart//Break 2022, Halfway to Falling 2020, Ceist na Talún
2022)- Siobhán was commissioned by O’ Shea to compose two sound
works for the exhibitions ‘Jump Cuts’ (Walyalup Freemantle Arts
Centre, Western Australia 2025) and ‘Mycelium’ (Visual, Carlow
2026). Examples of Siobhán’s collaborative performance/sound art
include: ‘LotusEater’ with Aoibheann Greenan (Projects Arts Centre
2013); ‘Doom Opera’ performed live at Séamus Nolan’s – F**K IMMA
(IMMA chapel 2015); ‘Composition 1 -I Breathe, therefor..’ and
‘Composition 2 -Notes on Breathing & Space’ by Siobhán Kavanagh
and Adam Gibney (The Sailors Home, Limerick and The Complex,
Dublin 2018).
Summer festival funded by
An Roinn Cultúir, Cumarsáide agus Spóirt
Department of Culture, Communications and Sport
Some videos from Siobhán Kavanagh: Song Of Home showreel & The Quickening Clip
