MAY 31, 2024 JACKIE ANDRES
All photos by Robert Bredvad, courtesy of Praise Shadows Art Gallery
The most famous goat in the history of Boston was named Skellig Mör. During the early 1900s, Skellig Mör’s name plastered headlines as an arduous legal battle for his custody ensued. The famed goat was born in Killorglin, a town in County Kerry, Ireland. Prior to being bought by Americans and taken overseas to Boston, Skellig Mör was dubbed king in the annual Puck Fair, one of Ireland’s oldest traditions in which a group of individuals trek up a mountain range, catch one of the horned mammals, and crown the chosen one ‘King Puck.’ A king and symbolic entity, Skellig Mör’s absence caused tensions to rise, taking matters of ownership to the courts.
Eventually, ruling decided that Skellig Mör would stay in U.S. custody, and he lived the rest of his days aboard a battleship called the USS Vermont. The goat’s unfortunate death came the same year he was given to the American sailing crew, sparking news coverage once more that revealed the goat’s body was ultimately stuffed and displayed in a Boston museum. In Duke Riley’s newest solo exhibition titled The Repatriation of King Skellig Mör, the artist explores this curious relationship between animals and nature, institutional power, and ownership. […]
Photo by Dan Watkins Photography, courtesy of Praise Shadows Art Gallery
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