(De) Constructing the Anthropocene

Fahy, Niamh

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the methodologies of deep mapping and printmaking to investigate the changing land use of the Slieve Aughty Mountains in the West of Ireland. Within this paper, I present a body of work situated in practice-based research that attempts to map and deconstruct a landscape that contains an accumulation of histories and temporalities, complex and intersectional, inhabited by multiple voices and narratives.
Interpretation through multidisciplinary printmaking can present an alternative “kind of witnessing” (Nixon, 2013, p.15) in that printed narratives can imagine the unseen and imperceptible (Horn, 2019, p.3) as well as bearing witness to traces of change. The haptic nature of the printed surface is an avenue to make visible the interruptive force of slow violence and displacement in landscapes. This paper argues that the intentional gaze of the artist can activate (Ahrens, 2017, p. 28) landscapes of Anthropogenic significance and narratives of displacement through a considered aesthetic that integrates analogue and digital modes of practice.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: (RE)Imagined Landscapes Symposium
• Start Date: Jun 9, 2021
• End Date: Jun 10, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 25, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 26, 2022
• Keywords: Anthropocene, Printmaking, Visual Landscapes
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/8542392