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Cathy Fitzgerald, creative practice-thesis doctoral scholar from the National College of Art & Design, Dublin, was invited by TheGallery, Bournemouth Arts University, UK to take part in a 'Text+Work' public talk on 14 Feb 2013. TheGallery's 'Text+Work' talks are designed to further developed the conversation and narrative surrounding exhibitions at TheGallery. Currently the exhibition is Jane Wilbraham's wood sculptures. Cathy's talk was described as an 'Art in Context session on Land management' at TheGallery. With a background in biological research and visual culture, Cathy reviewed the growing ecological crisis; discussed contemporary art & ecology practice, ecocriticism of cultural works (visual culture and nature cinema), radical permanent forest management and new national forest policy in Ireland that is moving towards permanent, non clearfell forestry. Cathy's background in these areas, have fed her arts practice that is resulting in a long term art & ecology forest project based in her immediate environment, a small woodland in rural Ireland. From this work Cathy is developing an applied, transferable philosophy of deep sustainability, rooted in actions, theory and the many lessons from the forest in which she lives.
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Thank youvalentines day
hopper tp be speaking as so many in UK have stood up for your forests in the last 2 years
‘tending the wild’ — lessons from a small forest toward deep sustainabilty
cathy fitzgerald, ireland ecoartfilm.com TheGallery, Bournemouth, Valentines Day 14.2.2013, 5pm
The 9 planetary boundaries recently adopted by the UN 2012
the scale, ecocidal violence that our species is inflicting
2010
: Confronts many of our dominant cultural stories
myths of never-ending progress and growth
the acceptability of a spreading culture of exploitation that has created material wealth only for the few
the stories of the ‘superiority’ of our species that overlooks our ecological interdependence
that we can treat ecological entities as ‘property’
It challenges us as individuals, as communities, nations
And, as artists and cultural workers
“ecocide demands a response. The response is too important to be left to politicians, economists, conceptual thinkers, number crunchers; too all pervasive to be
left to activists or campaigners.
Artists are needed. So far, though, the artistic response has been muted…”
Dark Mountain manifesto 2009
photo: emily coghlan
ecocide – long term degradation to bioregion by human activity
Joseph Beuys,Harrisons, Agnes Denes
1996
• Local project
2006the local project
solo exhibition –
filmed new native tree woodlands
2006
Industrial forestry in Ireland- 40 year monoculture, clearfell and replace rotation
permanent, non clearfell forest, using Close-to-Nature-continuous cover principles
13
Lessons in and from the forests:
naturally regenerating permanent forests in Netherlands, Hungary, Austria and Slovenia
‘Tending’ Anderson writes suggests a healthy tension, a specific application of wisdom, of culture practices that fosters active relations with the nonhuman
‘future has an ancient heart’
15
began conversion ‘Hollywood’ -2.5 acres25 yr conifer monocrop2008
Art as action research
16
2008 my neighbours and local green cllr learn about about close to nature, non clearfell forestry
transforming my conifer plantation to a forest native ash tree seedlings coming up in thinned conifer plantation
Land, art and ecology (2006) RSA
• ‘the relations between doing and seeing, action and vision, construction and perception, lie at the core of art that engages the land at ground level’ - Lucy Lippard, p15
• ‘How we view the world has been in the past conditioned by painting and writing. Today movies, photo and TV, condition our perception and social behaviour…we should begin to develop an art education based on relationships to specific sites. How we see things and places is not a secondary concern, but primary’ - Robert Smithson, p22
2020
2008Creating short art films about
forest transformation
still from burning bright 2008
SENSITIVITY:looking/listening with my camera and mic is making me much more aware of the vast complexity of the dynamics of the living communities & elements – my neighbours that I need to relate to
... artists should move towards ‘an ecological sympathy’
Still from Transformation (2011)
examining visual politics of nature images /cinema
Growing view –
That visual conventions, long assimilated, may significantly account for our disregard for the natural world
See 40 yr+ residency in this forest as a continuing dialogue - my relational films & forest learning becoming an audiovisual diary that I share with other humans online, as an e.g of an applied deep sustainability
ecoartfilm.com ...15 million followers :-)
Photo: anon
•read more: issuu.com/cathyart•see more: ecoartfilm.com
Learning how to live responsibly with forestcommunities, is transferable to all other areasof human interaction with nature.
For it is by learning to walk gently on the forest floor that we also learn to soften our ego boundaries and experience the universe as a vibrant living whole. Wild Foresting, 2006
permanent, Close-to-Nature naturally regenerating forest in the Netherlands, 2010
Dogged
Determined
different
Join the conversation –email: cathyart@gmail.com prosilvaireland.org, ccfg.co.ukwww.ecoartfilm.com facebook: /ecoartnotes, /the Great Turning Artful Inquiry
Thank you
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