This time last year I heard that I was successful in getting a place on this newly established postgrad diploma. It has been a game-changer.
I had been feeling the urgent need to shift my practice to engage with environmental issues so this was just the investment I needed. It is offered by the Creative Futures Academy ( http://creativefuturesacademy.ie, well worth a perusal if you’re looking for short, bespoke courses to revitalise a broad range of creative and cultural practices).
We were introduced to theorists such as Donna Haraway, James Bridle, David Abram, Bruno Latour, Maria Puig Della Bellacasa, Anna Tsing to name but a few. Our horizons broadened and and deepened and any human-centric thinking utterly challenged. We were pushed out of our comfort zone in how we might deliver our responses in the very novel ‘classroom’ setting of the NCAD FIELD ( https://www.ncad.ie/about/ncad-field/ )
A photo diary, September 2023 to June 2024:
September: 'Blackberry Bleed' The outcome of the first module, an expression of Haraway's Tentacular Thinking inspired by the spread of the juice of the Blackberry along the fibres of absorbent paper. The lines/tentacles were continued into space and two small paintings installed in the FIELD were activated and connected by the joining of hands of those present.
October/November: A collaborative ritual with Sheila Jordan and Ursula Meehan. As the older, wiser(?) members of the group we created a ceremonial blessing based on the curative properties and folklore surrounding Bramble, Dock and Yarrow, a combination of the species we had each researched for the first module.
March/April: we presented our own project/site research the would be brought to fruition in the Capstone Module in June. I was drawn to the very special ecosystem of Inner Galway Bay through exploring the story of the last occupant of a derelict cottage overlooking the sea. This led me to the Oyster, an eco warrior, cleansing the waters and creating habitat and so important as a food source. The many ancient shell middens in this area attest to the millennia of human dependence on the sea and its bounty. My work honoured the oyster and Mick Silke, a ‘terrestrial’ (B. Latour), and his way of life. I brought oyster shell forms made in clay harvested from the Galway Bay Shore to the mineral-poor FIELD watering in the clay’s nourishment in the form of ‘Mick Silke’s Clay Shell Soup’.
