Work As A Vehicle For Growth is a short film by local artist, Rowan Noonan Ganley. The film acts as a portrait of life in rural Ireland. It investigates work and creative flow as a cathartic practice, dealing with loss, grief, and growth. The shots were taken in East Clare, featuring a cabin, which Rowan built during the first lockdown. The writing and recording of the songs, which the artist called “a deeply healing exercise”, also took place in 2020 to the backdrop of an uncertain world. This film is a quiet conversation about craft and healing, narrated by birdsong and dreamlike melodies.

The Film

Rowan Noonan Ganley

Rowan was raised in East Clare by an artistic family. A musician all his life, he graduated from university in Dublin, 2010, where he studied Contemporary Music Performance. Since then he has worked with youth groups, carpenters, done installation work for artists, trained and worked as a hairdresser for several years in Ireland and Australia, worked in film, and with theatre groups. He is a lifelong vegetarian and a lover of hiking, yoga, surfing and skateboarding. In recent years he has been drawn to meditation and mindfulness and has found them an invaluable support in not only everyday life, but also in his creative practices. Rowan recently spent a month long research trip on the isle of Lewis. There he studied the methods of construction used for the bothys, Black Houses, and the making of Harris Tweed. This research included working with joiners renovating an old croft using traditional woodworking techniques. He has a real passion for working with people and loves the creative atmosphere of working in interdisciplinary environments. Holistic living and a sense of community are close to Rowan’s heart, and he is proud to call East Clare his home.