Arctica: the Last Fragments
Artist and former physicist Angela Gilmour presents a response to her experience on The Arctic Circle residency program, having spent three weeks on an expedition during the Summer Solstice (midnight sun) in 2019. International artists, scientists and innovators live and work aboard a Barquentine Tall Ship while sailing the waters of the international territory of Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago just 10 degrees latitude from the North Pole. Arctica is a prehistoric continent of which the High Arctic and Svalbard are part of the remaining fragments, now also under threat from climate change. Angela Gilmour’s art practice is inspired by scientific observation. In this collection, she looks at the way nature is affected by climate change, and how the actions of humans drive that change. Her work combines landscape, emotion and data to emphasise the fragility of life.
Foreboding Shores (2020) | Photopolymer etching | 74 x 87cm
Examples include photopolymer etchings that are damaged using chemicals such as sodium metasilicate to destroy the surface of the etching plate, mimicking the erosion and damage to the Earth’s surface through climate change (see Foreboding Shores above). Other etchings and paintings show evidence of retreating glaciers, such as The Retreat of Mayerbreen, which shows scars on mountains left by retreating glaciers.
The lagoon at Samarinvågen, where once there was a glacier (2020) | Photopolymer etching | 93 x 78cm
Her installations (see The Imperceptible Movements of Time Running Out) include the clockwork parts of a temperature-recording device that ticks as the device completes one revolution of the cog movement in exactly 7-days. The installations are often small in scale and placed with scientific schematics or data. In this case the timepiece is placed on the schematics of a planetarium, a metaphor for the short time humans have existed when considering deep geological time and the point in time where the planetary impact of our actions is at the brink of no return.
The Retreat of Mayerbreen (2020) | Photopolymer etching | 74 x 87cm
The imperceptible movements of time running out (2019)
Vintage thermograph timepiece, planetarium schematic screen-printed on wood, glass bell jar
Diameter 26cm / height 30cm
When fully wound the thermograph timepiece can be heard to tick while completing one full rotation of the cogs in a 7-day period. Each week the piece has to be rewound.
Originally from Scotland and formerly a physicist, Angela Gilmour now lives and works as a visual artist in Cork, Ireland. She holds a Masters in Science and an Honours Degree in Physics from the University West of Scotland and an Honours Degree in Fine Art from Crawford College of Art & Design, Ireland.
Since working on her first class honours thesis Creating a Third Culture? Art and Science Interactions (2015), Gilmour has built a relationship with science institutes nationally and internationally. These ties lead to residencies and collaborations with researchers in biotech, nanotech, food & farming and environmental sciences. This resulted in interdisciplinary and socially engaging works for public libraries and outreach programs with Science Foundation Ireland, MDI Biological Laboratory America, International Space Week, British Science Week, the New York Hall of Science, the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Blackrock Castle Observatory, Munster Technological University, University College Cork, European Research Centre Tyndall National Institute and the Irish Photonics Integration Centre.
Gilmour has exhibited nationally and internationally with shows across Europe, America and Australia. Her work is represented in private and public collections. Her practice is primarily concerned with creating a catalyst for discussion on our untenable existence and a sustainable future. Through her work she questions our ability to balance progress with the preservation of the environment.
Top banner image: The Retreat of Fridtjovbreen (2019) | Oil on wood | 80 x 100cm