I was just going over all the material that I collected at the recent first UK Arts and Forestry meeting held in London last month, when I saw a note that I had written down, to look up a well known Slovenian film maker, Andrej Zdravic, who has recently done a film about forests.

I did a search on google and accidentally came across this film and lost an hour… Now, I have been briefly to Slovenian and I am going back this Sept as I have been invited to the 20th anniversary of Pro Silva Europe -the Close to Nature forestry organisation.  Slovenians are an interesting people, proudly living in country 70% covered by forests and whose economy is also 70% forestry based. Yet this unassuming Slovenian man, is truly a hero in trying to alert the world about saving the Amazon rain forests, the world’s water and climate. I will keep looking for the other Slovenian filmmaker but enjoy meeting Martin Strel! (See the longer clip, here)

‘

‘Many times I talked to myself and to the river. I said: “I am a good man with a good intention. I’ve been talking with the Amazon river for 66 days now. The animals have been swimming with me for weeks, I think Nature allowed me to do this.”

I also want to promote a message of clean rivers, clean water and friendship, because these rivers and water have to stay clean, otherwise the world will collapse. The Amazon river is still very clean, local people use it as a natural resource and I think the Amazon should stay clean forever.

I have seen some deforestation, but it is not going to be good if we keep expanding the limit. I want to pass this message to everybody: “Do not look only for business and for money when you come closer to nature.”
Martin Strel, 2007

The first ‘forest to fuel’ meeting organised by the Transition Town group FutureProof Kilkenny and Glas last week turned out to be a good event with much local interest. Contributions were made  from Glas on German woodburners and gasifiers. I made a short presentation about how my art project is documenting our transformation of our 20+ year old conifer plantation to a permanent, mixed species productive forest following close to nature methods. I also described the  close to nature Pro Silva Europe organisation whose members are foresters and large and small forest-owners; it’s celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. I was followed by a talk on a total forest to fuel service for small forest owners with Lightfootforestry.ie presented by Alan Holman and forest partner, Chris Hayes (a Pro Silva member too).   Chris also spoke with a lot of vision on close to nature, permanent forestry and its possibilities for Ireland/world.

Then tying it altogether was a talk by Martin Rafter, describing a developing Leader Nexus project that aims to make the first district heating scheme in Callan, Co. Kilkenny, fuelled by local farmers forest wood!! FutureProof Kilkenny’s Brian Dillon rounded up the evening reminding us all that creating local resilience in regards to fuel will be critical in responding to peak oil and climate change. I’ve since suggested those interested to join the Close to Nature Forest group on the  new TransitionTownIreland networking site.

What struck me that the evenings talks describing a circle of forest growers and timber users was very like the aspirations behind ‘the local project’ community forestry in Leitrim that I documented in 2005 (I’ve also heard another large 100+ forest/woodland group is now in Donegal too). The following you may have read before, I used it years ago when putting together the 1997 Crann Newsletter ; it’s by Wendell Berry, writer, farmer/forester, campaigner, sometimes called ‘the prophet of the land’ in the US.

A good forest economy

• A good forest economy, like any other good land-based economy, would aim to join the local human community and local natural community or ecosystem together as conservingly and as healthfully as possible

• A good forest economy would therefore be a local economy, and the forest economy of a state or region would therefore be a decentralised economy.

• A good forest economy would be owned locally. It would afford decent livelihood to local people. And it would be serve local needs and fill local demands first, before seeking markets elsewhere.

• A good forest economy would be properly scaled. Keeping the scale reasonably small is good for the forest. Only a local, small scale forest economy would permit, for e.g., the timely and selective logging of small woodlots.

• A good forest economy would be locally complex. People in the community would be employed in forest management, logging and saw milling, in a variety of value-adding small factories and shops, and in satellite or supporting industries.

• A good forest economy would obviously need to be much interested in local education. It would of course, need to pass on to its children the large culture’s inheritance of book learning. But also, both at home and in school, it would want its children to acquire a competent knowledge of local geography, ecology, history, natural history, and of local songs and stories..

• And so, to complete my description of a good forest economy, I must add that it would be a long-term economy. Our modern economy is still essentially a crop-year economy, as though industrialism had founded itself upon the principles of the worst sort of agriculture. ..

• But even the slightest acquaintance with the vital statistics of trees places us in another kind of world. A forest makes things slowly; a good forest economy would therefore be a patient economy. It would also be an unselfish one, for good foresters must always look toward harvests that they will not live to reap.

A clip from my ‘local project’ film; other local project clips can be seen  here

And What is the ‘Close to Nature forestry’ that is promoted by Pro Silva Ireland & Pro Silva Europe?

pro silva (Latin: ‘for the forests’)

PRO SILVA promotes forest management strategies which optimise the maintenance, conservation and utilisation of forest ecosystems in such a way that the ecological and socio-economic functions are sustainable and profitable -i.e by following close to nature.

The general approach to management which is advocated by PRO SILVA, includes market and non-market objectives, and takes the whole forest ecosystem into consideration.

With reference to sustainability in its broadest sense PRO SILVA believes that forests provide four categories of benefit to society. These are:

1. conservation of ecosystems

2. protection of soil and climate

3. production of timber and other products

4. recreation, amenity, and cultural aspects

Pro Silva Ireland Publications, such at the 2009 ‘What makes Close to Nature Forest Management an attractive choice for Irish farmers? are supported by the Irish Forest Service Dept of Ag, Fish and Food, and can be downloaded for free at www.prosilvaireland.org

As I’ve mentioned previously, I follow Al Gore on twitter (this is the web service where people can send short text-length messages across the web to anyone who wishes to subscribe). Their short messages (tweets) come into my gmail, so I was working away late last week when I noticed a message come in from Al. Al doesn’t tweet that regularly at all, so when he does its usually about something important. He was briefly thanking all those who helped get the first US climate bill through Congress end of last week!! I followed his link to find that he and many others had won a tightly contested battle. It is by no means a perfect piece of proposed legislation; a lot of concessions were made, evident as the document runs to 1200 pages and it still has to get through the Senate. However, its the first time that any legislation on this topic has ever made it this far and is been claimed as a historic turning point in the US.

So that was positive, I was thinking and good timing for the lead up to the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen this Dec when the world will be watching and hoping that all goverments will come together to formulate a new global policy to replace Kyoto. So many people are working tirelessly in this area in response to the almost total consensus (>99%) of peer reviewed scientists that human activities  are responsible for the planet’s rapid global warming,  although its still an issue much misunderstood in the popular media.

Also late last week,I started hearing reports that Michael Jackson had died. The global phenonemon that was Michael Jackson, his music and electric dance performances that touched so many of us over the decades, the tragic latter years of a man surrounded by disturbing controversy, meant he was always was part of our global consciousness. Yet with the media circus that surrounds this artist’s death I was reminded of his music and I looked and listened again. I looked for his ‘earthsong’ video on youtube – it was his biggest ever hit in the UK from his album, History, part 1, released in 1995, beating both U2 and a Beatle re-release to the No. 1 Xmas song of that year (strange or is it, it was largely ignored in the US?). I dimly remembered seeing the visuals of the video at the time. Described as a blues/ gospel work, operatic in scale and cost, it was so ambitious then and now staggering to see it now in the context of growing awareness of climate chaos.  Have a look at the video and then Jackson performing it live below.  Even though it seems over the top, it seems so ahead of its time now.

I’m always thinking how hard it is as an artist to make works about issues that can connect without preaching – I think Michael came a long way in acheiving it in earthsong. I was also looking recently at the new Oxfam ‘Blue in the Face‘ video campaign for the Copenhagen climate summit in December. It’s great they are organising such a campaign but I couldn’t help comparing how like a mobile-phone advert it was compared to the emotion displayed in  Jackson’s ‘Earthsong’(and isn’t it’s good to also see Jarvis Cocker come around to campaigning on this issue; remember he famously interrupted Earthsong when Jackson performed it live in the UK)

Earthsong 2005

Earthsong live in Munich 1996: The HIStory World Tour began on September 7, 1996, and finished on October 15, 1997. Jackson performed 82 concerts in 58 cities to over 4.5 million fans.

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ps

Was just about to post the above when I was saw a short piece in last weekend’s Sunday Times. I was startled to see that Jackson had revealed in the last few weeks before his death, admist a busy schedule of rehearsals for a comeback UK tour (which his brother tragically has since revealed he wasn’t well enough to do), that he was writing and composing new songs. He had excitedly rang  his long time friend Deepak Chopra, bestselling author of numerous spiritual books, that he was writing material as good a ‘Billy Jean’ and sent him this new demo tracks, under a lot security! So poignantly, his new songs were again addressing climate change… Deepak quotes some of the lines that Michael wrote…

‘the trees are our lungs,
the rivers our circulation,
the earth is our body’.

He also wished to work with Chopra on a new green hymn for the world.

The reclusive, chronically ill and tragic figure that was Michael Jackson in recent years was often referred to as ‘whacko Jacko’ in the popular media, who called him weird. Apparently Jackson often said to Deepak, ‘Why do they call me weird?’ Isn’t the world weird where we have climate chaos, global warming, extinction of species, war, terrosim, where there is genocide in places like Sudan, isn’t that weird?’

I wonder what will become of of his new ‘earthsong’ track that he sent to Deepak. There was no-one quite like Michael to connect with so much of our youth, and the youthful part in all of us. As I’ve been reading recently in Global Warming for Dummies, our youth can ‘add a real sense of urgency to climate talks by stressing that the future -climate change, which may seem abstract to policymakers, industry and the public – is very real for them…Youth bring to the table optimism and high energy… and a sense of moral obligation in their elders…and they see climate change with a sense of simplicity…without employing numbing jargon or invoking complex political issues’

… Deepak, the world probably needs Michael’s new ‘earthsong’ for this December!

Hi everyone

I have work  in two galleries at the moment; firstly my short film ‘burning bright‘ is been shown in a group show, the 9 stone group of Artists at the Norman Gallery in Wexford near where we live -Martin, Anthony, Nicola and other friends are also exhibiting. It opens tomorrow Sat 27 June at 5pm, continues daily 12-6pm until the 12 July. Sorry for the late notice but have been travelling recently. (Burning Bright was also shown at the new film program at Eigse in Carlow last week; I was away unfortunately but apparently a large audience turned up with Carlow’s own Hollywood star Saoirse Ronan, very exciting to hear such a strong audience for local films)

detail: Unwanted Genes (weeds) on a DNA Spiral, Cathy Fitzgerald 2003

Secondly, some work I made some years ago was selected for a new Children’s exhibtion Earth Explorers at the Ark in Temple Bar, in Dublin, Ireland. My DNA piece made from twigs and weed wildflowers and ‘red cells’ which I made from children’s ‘magic plastic’ are still proving popular and the science type exhibits such as mine were supported by the Exploration Station. You might have heard the adverts on RTE radio 1 – it’s a very well curated exhibition by Aishleigh Downey who previously worked at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Some of the exhibits are at child height, and all the works have a strong poetic sense to stir children and adults imagination about looking at the environment in a creative way or reinvestigating the creative possibilities in natural or found materials. Perhaps the best and most fun elements of Earth Explorers are the exciting range of workshops for the children. The show was opened by Green Party Minister for the Environment, John Gormley See the www.ark.ie

The Ark, Europe’s first custom-built Children’s Cultural Centre, programmes, promotes and hosts high quality cultural work which is by children, for children and about children (3 – 14 years).

Enjoy!!

Cathy

Ps I always get a lot of comments about my DNA piece, I made it not long after finishing my MA when I without a studio and a job, wondering if I was going to be able to continue in the arts. I made it from the site where I now live. I was living in a mobile home at the time, the green in the background is my beloved spruce forest whose fallen twigs form the DNA ‘backbone’. It found its way into the Irish Times, the New York Hall of Science, and is permanently on display in the Department of Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin and in private collections.

our new baby Ash forest is coming up!, originally uploaded by CathyArt.

Our forest floor is now covered with tiny green seedlings, our free future forest. We are finding it hard to walk now and not squash any but they’ll keep coming up next year too.

From all the seedlings appearing, we know it’s going to be mostly ash, with a sprinkle of oak type forest. Meanwhile the big pioneer’s, the alder and sitka spruce are working hard to give the little one’s shelter.

PS want to try a green gym; we are chipping again, with a decent chipper this weekend – all welcome, bring bags to take home the free chippings. Weather forecast suggests we might get the barbie out too!

There has been a lot of activity in the UK recently led by the RSA Arts & Ecology programme in trying to take a snapshot of all the arts and ecology activity happening in the UK in June ‘09 – aptly named RESPOND! It’s one of their projects for United Nation’s Environmental Programme UNEP World Environment Day on June 5! (That’s local/EU election day here in Ireland! – the theme for 2009 iThe theme for WED 2009 is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.)

If anything its really heartening to see the variety of discussions, projects and interdisciplinary events been listed across the UK. For a long time I have felt isolated in my own practice as the very limited amount of such activites in art magazines and the general media (although a 2nd Art & Ecology MOOT seminar is happening here in Kilkenny this week, in my own workplace – you are all invited!!)

I also wonder if in time the Irish Science gallery.ie or other organisations such as Ireland’s alternative green education organisate Cultivate.ie will join links with the RSA? I was involved with Cultivate’s ‘06 Emergence Art & Ecology exhibition and such a partnership could hardly be anything except positive in my view.

Here’s a taster of some of the UK events that are listed on the Respond blog!

This one below caught my eye, naturally, and I have already asked if they would like a contribution from Ireland, as so far Arts in Forestry is just looking at the UK only… grrrrr!!! However, I have already written and asked if I could gate-crash ;-D – It’s been organisedPaul Tabbush on behalf of the Forestry Commission, in partnership with the Royal Society for the Arts. Paul is an Independent Consultant who recently retired as Head of Social and Economic Research at Forest Research (the Research Agency of the Forestry Commission)

Arts in Forestry

10th June 2009

London

Taking ‘arts’ in the broadest sense to include all relevant media, the meeting will consider what art can do for forestry, and what forestry can do for artists, drawing on practical examples. The focus of this (first) meeting will be on England, although experience and issues relating to the other GB countries may be discussed. Depending on the outcome of the meeting, further discussions may be held in Scotland and Wales. More…

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Poetry for adults/and children:

Ecopoetics on Haldon
Skylines festival
CCANW
Haldon Forest Park
Exeter

Ecopoetics is the study of the ways that creative writing can address ecological issues. Historically associated with Romantic and pastoral poetry, this investigation now extends further into new realms such as urban environments and digital technologies.

Featuring work by 15 poets, including Sean Bonney, Allen Fisher, Cynthia Hogue, Redell Olsen, Maggie O’Sullivan and Alice Oswald ( I just love Alice’s work ‘The Dart’ which includes all the voices, human and otherwise along the Dart river).

Skylines is curated by Devon-based poet, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett .

www.ccanw.co.uk
Ecopoetics: language & landscape

Download CCANW Spring Programme [PDF 548 KB]

And this is big general overview of all the big names from land art movement from the ’70s to now…

Radical Nature

Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009

19 June 2009 – 18 October 2009
Barbican Art GalleryRadical Nature draws on ideas that have emerged out of Land Art, environmental activism, experimental architecture and utopianism. The exhibition is designed as one fantastical landscape, with each piece introducing into the gallery space a dramatic portion of nature. Work by pioneering figures such as the architectural collective Ant Farm and visionary architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, artists Joseph Beuys, Agnes Denes, Hans Haacke and Robert Smithson are shown alongside pieces by a younger generation of practitioners including Heather and Ivan Morison, R&Sie (n), Philippe Rahm and Simon Starling. Radical Nature also features specially commissioned and restaged historical installations, some of which are located in the outdoor spaces around the Barbican while a satellite project by the architectural collective EXYZT is situated off site.

A fully illustrated catalogue, with a foreword by environmental campaigner and writer Jonathon Porritt, accompanies the exhibition

Daily 11am–8pm

Wednesday 11am–6pm

Every Thursday LATE until 10pm

Posted using ShareThis

Just thought I would post this as it’s happening in my work place next week. Mary (Kilkenny Arts Officer) and Jean (Education Curator, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny) have been working hard on the 2nd Moot event on Art and the Environment; the first event a year ago had some very useful info, particularly Gavin Harte letting us know about the 10 Pink Rules for Environmental Education which I later blogged about as I think all artists working in this area should consider them too. Paul O’Brien is one of my past tutors at NCAD.

Details:
Wednesday May 20 2009
Kilkenny County Council Arts Office, no. 72 John Street
Doors open at 7.45pm Starting at 8pm
Admission Free
Email: jean@butlergallery.com

Kilkenny County Council’s Arts Office in collaboration with the Butler Gallery is delighted to launch the sixth in the series of MOOT discussions, debates and seminars. MOOT is a continuous creative process providing a forum for powerful, focused and inspirational debates and discussion on a variety of subject matters. These events will, potentially, transform expectations, citing shifts in attitudes, perceptions and beliefs.

MOOT VI is the second in our current series on art and the environment, investigating ecology and sustainable arts practice more specifically, and the potential role that artists, curators, educators and arts managers play in raising awareness of environmental issues and our ecology. This discussion, like previous events, will be an open format event where artists, curators, academics etc. and the general public will be invited to question how arts and culture can contribute to addressing environmental and ecological concerns. Obviously the range of environmental concerns facing us at present are vast, but this MOOT will focus on art, ecology and sustainable ways of living and working.

This panel discussion will take place on Wednesday, May 20th in Kilkenny County Council Arts Office, no. 72 John Street at 8pm and will consist of:

Chairperson Pat Cooke (IRL) Director of Cultural Policy and Arts Management at UCD Dublin
Paul O’ Brien (IRL) Lecturer in aesthetics/ cultural theory in the Faculty of Visual Arts, NCAD Dublin
Rick Faulkner and Christine Keogh (UK) Chrysalis Arts, an artist-led public art company, training and arts development agency
Heather Peak (UK) an artist based in Wales who works collaboratively with Ivan Morrison. Together, they investigate their environmental surroundings through their art, and are currently installing work as part of Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009 at the Barbican, London

MOOT is jointly organised by Mary Butler, Arts Officer Kilkenny County Council and Jean Tormey, Education Curator, Butler Gallery and is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland

Pat Cooke worked for Ireland\’s state heritage service for over twenty years, where he was director of both Kilmainham Gaol and the Pearse Museum. He took over as Director of the MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management at UCD in 2006. As a heritage sector manager, Cooke pioneered the use of museums and historic properties in Ireland as sites for major art projects. His experience in the heritage field includes producing cultural and historical exhibitions and audio-visual presentations, and the management of historic sites in line with best principles of conservation practice. Between 2002-2006 he was Chairman of the Irish Museums Association, and chaired a Heritage Council committee charged with developing an accreditation programme for Irish museums. Currently he is an assessor on the implementation of that programme. http://www.ucd.ie/arthistory/postgraduate_ma_culturalpolicy.htm.

Rick Faulkner is an artist/director with Chrysalis. He is a founder member of the company and also works as a freelance consultant. He is a trained engineer and undertakes creative, project management and community consultation work for
Chrysalis. He has excellent advocacy, visioning and presentation skills and is particularly experienced in successfully developing projects through ideas and funding processes. http://www.chrysalisarts.org.uk.

Christine Keogh is development director with Chrysalis. She has worked professionally in the arts since 1980 and has wide experience of local authority arts work, including arts, regeneration and public art commissioning. She is responsible for strategic development and training and undertakes consultancy work, specialising in artists\’ professional development and rural creative industries. http://www.chrysalisarts.org.uk.

Paul O’ Brien is a lecturer in aesthetics and cultural theory in the Faculty of Visual Arts at NCAD. His research interests are in the areas of cultural and critical theory and theory of art, art and technology, new media, ecology, and post-modernism. Publications include \”Hypertext, Changelings and the Digital Fireside\” (chapter in forthcoming book on Ireland and cinema, Wallflower, 2004); \”Under the Surface\” in Profile: Andrew Folan, Gandon, 2002; \”Conspiracies, Computers and Consensus Reality,\”Reframing Consciousness, Intellect, 1999; \”New Toys for Boys\”, The Irish Communications Review, 1997; \”Virtual Redemption: The Role of Interactive Art\”, Point, Number 1, Winter 1995; \”Post-Modernism and Democracy\”, Education Arts Research International, 1993; \”Art and Technology\”, Circa No. 44, Mar/Apr 1989, etc. He has also reviewed many exhibitions of Irish and international artists, and reported on international events in the electronic arts. He recently presented conference papers at the Centre for Advanced Inquiry in the Interactive Arts at the University of Wales College, Newport, and at Glasgow School of Art, and has participated locally in events in the Digital Hub and Media Lab Europe. http://www.ncad.ie/faculties/visualculture/about.shtml.

Heather Peak is an artist based in Wales who works collaboratively with Ivan Morrison.
Artists Heather and Ivan Morison were born in Desborough and Nottingham, UK, respectively. They have worked together on many projects and have exhibited nationally and internationally. Their work is at once a celebration of and a reflection on simple pleasures and mirrors the passion, process and beauty of their subjects; an astronomer, an ice fisherman, dendrology, floristry, a beekeeper, a pig farmer, Java Sparrows, fungi, science fiction and wildflowers to name a few. Heather & Ivan Morison observe and collect the things they come into contact with, embracing chance encounters and seeking out subjects which are on the edge of daily life. They survey, record and collect to rebuild and re-present the often familiar, investing their observations and discoveries with vigorous fascination. They have a wood in North Wales, where they live and work, which they are developing into an arboretum – a collection of trees gathered from around the world. http://www.globalsurvey.co.uk. http://www.morison.co.uk/.

Image: Untitled, C. Fitzgerald ecoartnotebook.com

Hi all,

Just found out that my film that I made for Biodiversity week 2008 Burning Bright, has been selected for the Carlow 2009 Eigse Film programme. Yay!!! I know some of you watched this film as it was selected earlier this year for the Green Party’s youtube film festival and asked me how it go on there. It didn’t feature much there as I inadvertently sent people to watch it on my youtube channel, not on the official Green Party youtube channel! I’ve learnt a lesson from that – don’t enter competitions if you are suffering from jet lag.

Anyway, it’s nice that is getting a public outing; it will be screened in The Tower (part of the Dinn Ri complex) in Carlow Town on Wednesday 17th June 2009. Time is still to be confirmed but it will most likely be 7 or 8pm. Each participating filmmaker is entitled to free admission for them and a guest. Additional tickets will cost €6.

Sometimes I still am taken surprise by the power of art. Quite a few of you will know that I work quite intensively on a 5 county programme supporting artists of all stripes, www.artlinks.ie – it doesn’t leave much time to consider my own practice, let alone time to experience the work of others. I also have to admit, the area of my own artistic interest, art & ecology, has not been the focus of serious attention for many other visual artists (although, recently there is a surge of development, led in no small way by the excellent RSA Art & Ecology programme in London but I think more so by the inescapable, growing realisation that we need a healthy environment  to ensure our economies and every living thing’s survival).

A couple of weeks ago, after travelling a couple of hours to an all day meeting, and facing another couple of hours driving home, I was reminded that there was an exhibition next door by an artist whose work I’ve known about for some time.  I slipped over for a few minutes; the exhibition area was about to close, so it was quiet and the most delicious time of all to spend time with artworks. Although I had seen the invitation card (it was  a beautiful photographed forest scene) and even had seen the artist talk about how she had approached this commission (which she had generously shared with other artists on the ArtLinks.ie programme) I was still taken aback by the strength and clarity of the work; its  many layers of investigation -some of which I have grappled with myself.

Not having time to read the details of the catalogue, and with only a few minutes to absorb the work, I concentrated on a scanning the whole exhibition first, but I was soon stopped short by a beautifully presented (all the images were diamond mounted), but shocking unsettling photographic image of a man sitting in the foreground of a clear-felled hillside (isn’t the best art, the most unsettling?). As you can imagine, interested in permanent ecological and economically sustainable forestry in my own work, I felt this one image sucessfullycaptures all the sublime horror of the battle-field, that is clear-felling.

Now,  as I knew that the artist, US born Theresa Nanigian, wasn’t coming from my own forest/ecological concerns, I later asked her about this particular piece. To her, she felt that this piece could be read as a metaphor for the break-down in religious belief in this country of Ireland, as the figure in the foreground was in black and holding a small book (I hadn’t noticed these details at first). This is clearly a way, and perhaps the way most Irish audiences would read this work. But when I questioned Theresa about the location of the scene and found out the title and background of the work, I felt another thrill – the title of the work  is ‘Crone Forest’ 2009 and she had been referred to this area by a Coillte forester as part of her year long project on what you might refer to as an in-depth, visual commentary on a study of ‘place’.

So here was a contemporary  photographic image, clearly echoing the visual strategies of landscape artists working in the 18th century, portraying nature as ‘’sublime (where ‘nature’ was painted as an all powerful force in the greater part of an image, ‘man’  figuring as a dwarfed element in the foreground, overwhelmed in his relationship to what in the 18thC he saw as the uncontrollable forces of nature) but also inadvertently drawing attention to what I feel is the major point of what I feel people don’t generally understand about forests in Ireland. There is something really lacking and scary when we cannot really ’see’ our own environment, and that we call a clear-fell site, a forest! Yet it is not commented upon by either most foresters (and I am not making attack against Coillte) or most people in the surrounding community (as reflected in the other major part of Theresa’s project, where she interviewed local people about living in this area). What people generally know about forestry in Ireland is so very poor; what we have in the main is monoculture tree plantation crops. Yet, this lack of understanding is perhaps not surprising in a land that was deforested so long ago and that lacks a wider understanding of true sustainability in general. Today most people lack a real basic understanding of the important sustaining elements of forests in regards to biodiversity, waterways, climate and the resources that real forests have and do provide.

Amongst the other images, I also liked the image of the young girl walking ‘blind’ in a large forest but perhaps the other most striking work is the image of a man reminiscent of Caspar David Frederich’s figure in ‘The Wanderer‘, except in this instance, we see a typical Irish property developer figure, ear to his mobile phone caught up no doubt in Ireland’s all too recent story of ‘progress’ – property ‘development’. The currency and clarity of many of these images make this an important exhibition in its own right and I was delighted to hear that an edition of these works will be housed by the commissioner, Wicklow Co. Council, in one of its public buildings.

There is a lot more to this exhibition however;  there is a second major and separate part to Theresa’s project. She spent a long time in this rural part of Ireland, which is close enough to a city and interviewed the local community about what it was like to live there. This part of the exhibition is included in the beautifully yet understated accompanying catalogue. Again, Theresa, well known in her previous work for capturing lists of the endless streams of information that we are bombarded by in contemporary life, presented a striking visual means to present the voices of the inhabitants of this somehow ‘typically’ modern Irish place. She did this by re-inventing 18thC style silhouettes of those interviewed, with a line of text of their comments underneath. How potent to use this personal, but intriguingly anonymous means of presenting viewpoints in this age where we are visually saturated by film interviews. This is, I think a great development in this artist’s work and one that made me question my own artistic strategies when presenting ‘other voices’ in an artwork.

So there were in fact two very different parts of the exhibition; the landscape photography and the study on an Irish community in its environment. I don’t know if it was intentional, but the two separate parts also seemed to stress the extent of which modern communities are disconnected from the natural environment that surrounds and supports them. Ultimately, the study and understanding of ‘ecology’, as its very root, is the study of ‘home/place’ and this artist’s study offers a considered and compelling visual study of the ecology of modern Ireland.

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PS I’d love to think that Crone Forest will be an image, in the not too distant future of a more sustainable Ireland, that will be looked on in astonishment of a time when most thought this was an Irish forest!

This exhibition was recently at The Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Ireland. The exhibition travels to the West Cork Arts centre for 13th June until 18th July,  2009. If you are into photography, Public Art commissions (this unique Public Art commission was generously supported by Wicklow Co Council), or the study of place, don’t miss this exhibition!

See more of Theresa’s work or order the catalogue at www.theresananigian.com