Artistic License: Siobhán McDonald
MCDONALD’S FORTE IS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO CONTEMPORARY TOPICS DEALING WITH AIR, BREATH AND ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA, WEAVING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE INTO HER ART IN A POETIC AND THOUGHTFUL MANNER …
Where did you spend lockdown and how did you spend it creatively speaking?
When the world closed down in the middle of March, the sound of birdsong scored the air. As the city dissolved into a single, depthless hush, my perspective shifted and I became acutely aware of a new stillness. I took to walking, and explored stretches of beach near my house. If the tide was out it was large enough to create a sense of expanse. I found comfort in the cinematic drama of the night skies and the incremental promise of light coming into late spring. Most days I found it hard to focus. All my plans went out the window. The only thing I was drawn to paint were trees. Most of all I was heartened by the global community of artistic happenings that shared messages of hope across the world – as well as neighbours singing to each other across balconies.
What have you been working on most recently?
I’m working in many forms including painting, drawing, film and sound to draw attention to contemporary topics dealing with air, breath and atmospheric phenomena. I’ve just finished a commission that tells the story of two recently felled Oregon Maple trees that hold memories of significant events and histories at the heart of Trinity College Dublin. The accompanying project also suggests a journey through the grounds of Trinity – like a section through its anatomy. Since early spring I’ve been experimenting with large soak stain paintings on unprimed canvas. An ongoing series of paintings called “The Trees are Whispering” is developing nicely for an upcoming solo at Taylor Galleries, Dublin. The series seeks to capture the innate environment-sensing capacity of plants and trees. I’ve also been filming the changing light in local forests as a portal to reconfigure our experience of time during Covid.
You also made a short film Breathe which incorporates plant, tree and human breath recordings …
Breathe is a film that weaves together narratives of studies in human breath, medicine and plant remedies to explore the idea of coexistence in a world moved by invisible networks. The installation is about the importance of air and the coexistence between the lungs of the earth, humans and plants. It consists of a glass prism, volcanic ash, air particles, 24 karat gold and smoke. The work explores a selection of major European volcanoes and points to the cycle of the earth breathing within the carbon cycle. It was exhibited at Bozar in Brussels earlier this year. [Breathe was supported by The Dutchese Museum, Dresden for the exhibition “Of People and Plants,” with David Stalling, composer, and Christopher Ash, film editor.]
The accompanying installation explores air pollution as one of the many catastrophes of man’s impact on nature. I started the enquiry on Eyjafjallajökull, the largest glacier and volcano in Europe, as a microcosm to represent the larger global ecosystem. Since 2010, I have visited this highly eruptive part of Iceland to film the tension and perceived underground silence before an explosion. Together with JRC scientists the project expanded into a wider project about air and the role of major European volcanoes such as Etna, Stromboli, Vulcano, Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio to look at evolution and health through the prism of air.
And you have also been a part of Solar Orbiter …
Solar Orbiter is a joint European Space Agency and Nasa mission which launched in February 2020 to journey to an unexplored part of our sun. I was invited by DIAS to make a work in response to this mission so I’m studying two historical processes of tracking and depicting the sun as Solar Orbiter reaches its vantage point above the planetary plane by the end of 2021. I’m working on a new series of quiet, small-scale works on unprimed canvas that consider how Solar Orbiter can bring us closer to the core of the sun, to the awe we feel when faced by the mighty Universe. I’m also exploring naturally-occurring processes produced by the sun in new forms of solar photography.
What’s on the horizon for you artistically?
Interesting opportunities have lined up this year to attend two International residencies in 2020. In September I start a project with Studiotopia which is an initiative that aims to increase collaborations between cultural and research institutions, academia, innovation centres, creatives and European citizens.
I was selected with thirteen international artists to work with European Cultural Institutions such as: Center for Fine Arts BOZAR, Gluon and Ars Electronica. The commissioned artworks will be presented at the Serpentine Gallery and Ars Electonica in 2022.
Earlier this year I was also selected for the international open call Climate Whirl arts programme. It’s an exciting project with the University of Helsinki where I aim to address themes such as the urgent relationship between humans, species loss and the environment. I hope to go there in October when the pandemic eases. And while in lockdown I received a “Creative Ireland” award to reflect on our relationship with nature. The project is situated in forests and Irish boglands and explores the concept of the Anthropocene as a powerful lens for looking at the relationships between humans, plants and the environment. It’s a three year collaboration with The School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, The Heritage Office in Monaghan and Creative Ireland; www.siobhanmcdonald.com.
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