projects
The Night Hares
Public art project for Mayo Dark Skies
The Night Hares is a new lantern sculpture by Wilderland artist Tom Meskell commissioned specially for Mayo Dark Skies. This pair of 14ft-high hares will installed along the Newport viaduct, and will form the gateway to the festival Lantern Walk.
The Night Hares will be unveiled at this year's Mayo Dark Sky Festival as part of the free festival finale Lantern Walk on Sunday 2nd November.
Find out more on our Lantern Walk event page.
The story behind the Night Hares
The Night Hares project grew out of conversations with the Dark Skies team and with people working in the National Parks. When we began discussing what imagery might work well for the Lantern Walk, the idea of creating a gateway - an entrance to the Dark Skies Park - emerged.
Newport marks the beginning of the Mayo Dark Skies Park, so it felt fitting to design something that would represent that sense of arrival. Rather than a traditional gate or archway, someone from the National Park suggested using hares — animals that are found throughout the area and are deeply symbolic. Hares are magical, special creatures; when they appear, they seem to transport us somewhere else. Just seeing them reminds us of wildness, freedom, and our connection to nature.
That’s where the imagery of the hares came from. By choosing an animal we might be lucky enough to glimpse in daylight and reimagining it at night, we’re transforming it into something otherworldly. Of course, hares don’t disappear after dark - they’re part of that nocturnal landscape - but here, we’re envisioning them in a magical way: hares made of light, hares in the sky.
By placing them on the viaduct, we hope to create moments of wonder and enchantment for everyone - especially for younger audiences. Our aim is to inspire a sense of magic and connection that will stay with them long after the event.
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