A YOUNG West Cork artist was inspired by an oak tree on his family farm to create unique sculptures - and now he’s branching out with a move to London to further his career.

Murrough O’Donovan worked with fallen branches from the tree which was brought as an acorn from the Somme during World War 1 by his great-grand-uncle Robert Bagnell, who fought on the French battlefield.

It was then planted on the farm on the Old Drimoleague Road, outside Skibbereen, has since withstood three lightning strikes.

Murrough (26) created nine pieces from the historic tree, some of which were exhibited with acclaim during this year’s Skibbereen Arts Festival.

He compared the oak to a bowed but unbroken injured soldier.

He describes himself as an “accidental artist” who originally planned to carve out a career as a marine biologist or zoologist.

“At one point if you’d have asked my parents who was more likely to be an artist, me or my younger sister, they’d have said my younger sister,” said Murrough.

However, a debilitating illness changed the course of his life when he was just 16. Chronic and unexplained fatigue left him with no other choice but to drop out of school when he was in TY.

“I was diagnosed with a fungal infection when I was 18,” Murrough told The Southern Star. “To be honest, I don’t remember that period of time very well, there’s not a lot to hold on to, the days were all very much the same.

“I went back when I was in fifth year in Schull, as it was nearer to home, but just briefly before having to leave again.”

However, his passion for art helped him during those dark days.

“As long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the natural world, collecting insects in the garden, fishing with a net and a bucket in ditches, ponds and tidepools.

“I began to rely on art as a way of exploring my love of the natural world that I was no longer able to physically experience and it really helped,’ he said.

And art also helped him rebuild his life when he had recovered.

“More than anything I was keen to reconnect with people and start living again. I had lost touch with most of my social life, so I wanted to make friends, and spend time with people to combat that isolation I had felt.

“I knew I liked art so when I was well enough I signed up for a PLC course in art and design at the West Cork Campus in Skibbereen which was fantastic.”

The PLC course put him on the path to study art in Crawford College in Cork and half way through his third year, something “clicked” and he became more focussed on his work.

Since graduating he’s had an artist residency in Uillinn and has shown his collection of nine branch sculptures three times.

“Navigating the Forest, The Fallen Branches of the Somme Oak is a sculptural installation made up of nine partially-sculpted tree branches. I use the branches as avatars for the earth, carving maps into them that explore how we conceptualise, utilise, exploit and harm the natural resources and ecosystems around us while also portraying the branches as bodies wounded in battle.”

The Battle of the Somme, fought from July 1 to November 18, 1916, resulted in more than one million casualties.

“The installation creates a ritual grove where viewers can contemplate their own conceptions and use of land and their place in local and global ecologies and at the same time echoes the no man’s land graveyards of northern France,” said Murrough. “It’s an attempt to remember what has been lost.”

Earlier this year Murrough moved to London to do an MA in Sculpture in Royal College of Art in London, and his ambition is to collaborate with organisations that work with artists in the Amazon rain forest.

He credits the support of his parents as being vital on his journey.

“My parents were hugely supportive through my illness and since I recovered and began pursuing art, and kept their faith in me when I had very little myself,” he said.

“My younger self could never have imagined I’d be where I am today and I’m really excited for what the future holds.”