Earth Writings: Bogs, Forests, Fields, Gardens (2020). Ed. Karen E. Till. Maynooth University, Department of Geography. ISBN 978-0-9547955-3-5, 73 pp.
Earth Writings (2020) is a richly illustrated arts book of essays, artwork, and exhibition vignettes that explore a range of Irish environments — Bogs, Forests, Fields, Gardens — through four artists creative practices. Written as an invitation to think and act differently about our current earth crises, readers learn how healthier places and worlds can be made through the work of MONICA DE BATH, CATHY FITZGERALD, PAULINE O’CONNELL and SEOIDÍN O’SULLIVAN, artists working in southwest Ireland who, to borrow Donna Haraway’s (2016) words, ‘stay with the trouble’. Scholars PATRICK BRESNIHAN, NESSA CRONIN, GERRY KEARNS and KAREN E. TILL, respectively, engaged with the artists and collaborated to write short essays that reflect upon the artists’ embedded ecological and social practices that make ‘kin in lines of inventive connections’ (Haraway, 2016). Introductions by LUCINA RUSSELL (Kildare County Council Arts Service) and Karen E. Till (Maynooth University Department of Geography), with a short inset of 2019 exhibition images and artist’s statements.
Available for online purchase for 8€ (plus postage/shipping) at the Temple Bar Art Gallery Shop at: https://shop.templebargallery.com/products/karen-till-earth-writings-bogs-forests-fields-gardens. Soon available at Charlie Byrne book store (Galway).
For more information about the project or to purchase email: karen.till@mu.ie.
Youtube recording of book launch, including presentations by all artists and contributors (25 November 2020, Moore Institute, NUI Galway) available at: https://youtu.be/vNLvc0XU5QI
earthwritings.ie 