This article is from page 38 of the 2008-10-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
TUBBER based artist, Eileen Healy, is calling on farmers from each cor- ner of the county to get involved with a innovative new art project involv- ing farm photographs.
Visual Stuttering is a new project commissioned by the Clare Arts Of- fice that will explore aspects of farm- ing in Clare through the use of aerial photography.
Eileen would like to hear from any farmers who have aerial photograph of their farm, either from recent years or years in the past.
This new project has emerged from a research project co-funded by
Clare Arts Office and Burren Con- nect which identified the need for a community-based art project which engaged directly with farmers.
Eileen has focuses primarily on ru- ral issues and she was commissioned to create this project following on from her recent solo exhibition at the X-PO community space in Kilnaboy. There she showed three aerial pho- tographs of the her home farm on the Tyrone/Donegal border entitled “Visual Stuttering — 1970, 1985 and 1996”.
‘These images, spanning three dec- ades, clearly document the changes in farming architecture and methods, while also highlighting the relation-
ship between man, animal and land- scape,’ she said.
“This sub-genre of rural documen- tary photography resulted in most farm houses having a photograph of their farm above their fireplace — an image which clearly aestheticizes the time-based nature of farming in a very striking way.”
During the X-PO exhibition the photographs generated a lot of inter- est and discussion from locals, with people immediately identifying with the images. As a result of this inter- est she decided to engage directly with local farm-owners and identify similar photographs with a view to presenting a public exhibition and
publication in March of next year.
“The Clare Arts Office is com- mitted to process-based works such as Visual Stuttering, as a means of establishing contact with farming communities in Clare, involving them as co-creators of and audience for process based public art,” said Fiona Woods, the Regional Arts Co- ordinator for north Clare.
“This project will document aspects of the changing face of farming both from above and below, but more than this, it furthers critical art practice in response to a rural context.”
Anyone interested can _ contact Eileen on aerialfarmphotographs@g mail.com or by phone 0877922618.