A Woven Vernacular

‘A Woven Vernacular’ is a sculptural installation which explores the ordering of landscapes and the parallel ordering of human life within them. 

Comprising two pieces, a floor-based work of non-native white pine boards, each carved on the top edge following knots in the wood. And an array of chains stretching from floor to ceiling with willow woven through, buckling the chain and disrupting the pattern. 

Accompanying these an archival images showing a woman from the Aran Islands carrying a woven basket fixed with burden ropes and screen prints of willow leaves.  

Informed by the history of deforestation in Ireland, the installation speaks to a relationship found between land, exploitation, and craft. drawing attention to our relationship with material and tension in our contemporary production brought about through a culture of domination and ordering of the Irish land for extraction. 

The work allows a reflection on our contemporary relationship with local materials and landscapes, inviting questions of possible alternatives.