Alen MacWeeney (Irish, b. 1939)
Flies In The Window, Castletown House, Ireland, from “Alen MacWeeney” portfolio, 1972
10.5 x 15.375 in
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Mr. James R. McNab, Jr. ’66
I spent last fall in the Irish countryside at the Burren College of Art. The school was surrounded by green fields, rocky hills, and cows. On one of my first days, I remember walking behind all the studio spaces to the sink in the back to wash my paint brushes. The sun glowed through the window facing the sink, and empty bottles and colorful jars abandoned by previous students brought in a shimmering array of warm light.
Alas! When I looked closer, behind the jars, to my utter shock, I saw dead flies. Not one or two, but dozens, scattered around the entire windowsill. I was staring at a fly graveyard.
Photographs by author, 2024.
Irish photographer Alen MacWeeney’s “Flies in The Window” reminds me very much of my experience at the sink. The sunlight landing on the windowsill places a spotlight on the dead flies. Similar to other works by MacWeeney, he draws attention to the aspects of life you would typically look past. MacWeeney memorializes the flies through the permanence of capturing them on film.
The light directs viewers’ eyes to a driveway that opens into a field of about forty grazing cows. These cows oddly mimic the shape and size of the dead flies.
Cows are omnipresent in Ireland, every road trip is cows on one side then the other. The flies are actually attracted to the cows’ sweat, and because of the number of cows, there’s a huge number of flies (Burgess).
One of the postgraduate students, Sarah, explained to me why there were so many flies dying indoors. As the climate changes, flies are living longer into the season and reproduce more (Intagliata). Since they survive further into the winter, flies are more likely to come indoors for warmth. Here, at the end of their lifespan, many die.
The sheer amount of death I faced unexpectedly left a lasting impression. Previously, I mostly only saw one fly at a time, perhaps one trapped indoors, maybe a couple of horse-flies on the beach in Cape Cod, or some fireflies by a pond. Coming back to the U.S., my semester abroad began feeling more and more like a dream. Having works like these in the Van Every and Smith Galleries on campus provides me with comfort. My experience, though special, was not unique. Others have been struck by the same sort of experiences as I have been and managed to memorialize those specific experiences that remind me of my autumn in Ireland.
– Adele Oprica ’26
Works Cited
Burgess, Rowan. “Why Do Cows Attract Flies?” Dalton, 17 July 2023, www.daltonsupplies.com/blogs/news/why-do-cows-attract-flies.
Intagliata, Christopher. “Warming Climate Implies More Flies—and Disease.” Science America, 20 February 2019, www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/warming-climate-implies-more-flies-mdash-and-disease/.