Embodied Archaeologies

Sounds From a Safe Harbour, Cork

2023

Live Performative Drawing as part of an artist residency with Sounds From a Safe Harbour Festival 2023.

This live event  was in collaboration with Max Porter  best selling writer and author of The Death of Francis Bacon and Shahzad Ismaily world renown multi-instrumenatlist . 





Details on the event:

Ambitions for this residency stemmed from a deep reading of Deleuze on Francis Bacon in The Logic of Sensation within which he describes investigating the “forces behind the movement” in Bacon’s paintings. Forces, Deleuze describes, as closely related to sensations, a force must be exerted on the body. My desire to excavate such forces that inform my mark making and have the gestures observed in-situ , in real time, was a key propeller for this residency and performative drawing work.

For the performance, I created my own seaweed based ink – made primarily from spirulina. Spirulina, also referred to as ‘magic algae’ in Greek mythology is a seaweed that grows both in Ireland and Iceland. It is used as a supplement for bodily health, particularly for its physical energy boosting properties.


This performance is rooted in a practice I have been developing over the last two years or so which relates to the idea of a haptic or embodied archaeology. For this performance and other recent works, I have embraced this haptic archaeological approach to making by intimately engaging with fragmentary compositions of minerals, synthetic pigments, and objects. This practice values ephemeral and emotional experiences during the creative process with deteriorating materials over the final product.

Fragmentation, in this context, serves as both a formal and conceptual tool, allowing me to delve into themes like adaptation struggles, the body, home, changing landscapes, and a persistent sense of loss.

Many thanks to:
@hicksonmary
@soundsfromasafeharbour
@maxmaxporter
@ectoderm88
@marinamarketcork
@emer.yip