| Project title: Unearthed | |
| Location: On-site, rural landscape | |
| Date(s): 09-03-24 |
Artist Statement
I am a multidisciplinary artist interested in working with aspects of rural life, agriculture, nature, and farming communities. My practice investigates the unruliness of the natural world within the developments of the contemporary farmed landscape while I look for otherworldly qualities within this environment. The artwork aims to find a balance between the physical role of farming in people’s lives and the immaterial quality of the landscape. I work with site-specific locations within nature, agriculture, and the in-between moments beyond time space, and locations. Nature has an energy and power that can be experienced physically through the weather, plants, and landscape but the uncanny quality of the natural environment cannot be measured or quantified. The agricultural landscape is cultivated and managed but nature creeps back in through the uncontrollable quality of life and that of growing plants and animals, through the weather and the wildness of that which humanity does not have jurisdiction over.
3 video stills and video projection in a farmyard shed
Contextual Statement
This project draws upon my mythological concerns with the uncanny and unseen taken from folklore of the rural landscape. The video explores temporality and the ethereal landscape composed of thin places haunted by the unknown where the viewer is allowed space to consider the agency of the animated landscape and the vital force in nature. (Pigott, 2020)
Soil, as a primary material of the landscape, was dug from the site to create hollow spaces, and primitive sculptures formed by hand brought an essential meaning to the work. The row of sculptural formations and grave-like excavations relate to the process of agricultural production. The hybrid forms that emerge echo prehistory, a time when humanity was in tune with the landscape, and the struggle between nature and culture as seen in our lives did not exist. (Lippard,1983)
The project sits within the artistic context of those who work outside of the traditional gallery space such as Agnes Denes, a pioneer of the land art movement, who created art to be experienced on-site. Associations can also be made with Ana Mendieta Silueta Series (1973-1984) whose work incorporated myth, soil, natural sites, and video to convey her connection to place as well as her connection to the universe. She integrated primitive imagery and mythology to create prehistoric work relevant to the issues of her day.
“My art is grounded on the belief in one universal energy which runs through all being and matter, all space and time (MOMA 2024)
Documentation
Temporary earth sculptures on site
For more information; http://www.youtube.com/@M.C.KirbyWorks-yi5cu