River Wild Plates
Reclaimed ceramic plates with decals. Drawings from River Shannon Wildlife Series. Limerick, Ireland. 2016.
For this series is made up of several drawings of the wildlife that inhabits the River Shannon and her tributaries as it flows through Limerick City. This includes a variety of mammals, birds, fish, and insects. The drawings were translated from pen and ink to ceramic decals which were then fired onto vintage china plates found in second hand shops.
The works take influence from commemorative plates and the tradition of using special edition plates as a medium for historical documentation. This selection shows a range of the wildlife that we experience today. By the time these drawings are as old as the plates they are printed on, I question whether we will still see these animals by the river in our everyday lives, or whether the current trend of biodiversity loss will have reached our own urban backyard, with these familiar sights and sounds of nature gone for good.
The aim of this work is to marry the past with the present, and to consider the future of the fragile ecosystem that we are part of whilst using the ceramic plate as a vehicle for historical documentation and visual art.