A Future Distant Memory Calls is a new body of film and sculpture works produced by Dublin artist Laura Skehan.
In this solo exhibition, now exhibiting at Roscommon Arts Centre, Skehan extracts moments of time and myth, notions of progress and explores materiality within the physical landscape to illustrate the impact agriculture, colonialism, architecture, climate and the quest for knowledge has had on the relationship of the human and non-human, of nature and technology, and of culture and science.
Inspired by the rock and hydrological cycles, Skehan asks, without a cohesive timeline, what is our relationship to the earth around us? This exhibition also features collaborations, including hand-painted tarot cards by artist Serena Caulfield. The soundtrack for the film A Drowning Melted Persistent Memory has been made with contributions from with three international composers, Clíona Ní Laoi, Masaya Ozaki and Banu Çiçek Tulu, who produced sonic responses to Skehan’s 2022 sound works made using plant data collected in Ireland and abroad.
Laura’s practice focuses on the relationship between human and non-humans entities in the landscape, prompting phenomenological and philosophical questions about the human condition. Working predominantly in moving image, sound and sculpture installation, she explores how human-centric behaviours and technologies impose on the balance and harmony of this relationship. Her current research examines modes of observation, collection and display of objects and organic material in public sites and institutions to discuss the volatility and fragility of our human relationship to the surrounding environment and unpack historical narratives of control, progress and ownership.
A Future Distant Memory Calls will exhibit at Roscommon Arts Centre until October 21.
