The Other Timeline
Drawing and collage, compleated during a research residency for the seed fund at the Butler Gallery. Kilkenny, Ireland. Sept 2020.
The Seed Fund was a residency for artist to develop ideas that engage the public with the biodiversity loss and environmental change. My research was rooted in the site of the Butler Gallery, newly renovated building called Evan’s Home. The site itself was founded by the Augustinians in the early 13th century as a monastery. The building was subsequently used as a military barracks, a military hospital, and a nursing home amongst other things
My research examined the site from its founding as a monastery to the present day comparing anthropological and natural histories. The aim of the work was to discover the ‘other’ (non-human) histories of the site and engage the public with these less familiar stories.
The physical output from the residency was a seven-meter timeline documenting events such as the founding of the first monastery on the site, the black death, the little ice age from the 14th century, the Confederation of Kilkenny, and the occasion in 1801 when Mr Robertson Orchards in were decimated by migratory crossbills.
The public were invited to view the timeline and add any stories they had into it in a bid to share knowledge and deepen our understanding of what the site has experienced in the more-than-human world.
Watch a video of participating artists talking about the Seed Fund Residencies at the Butler Gallery.