Silent Spring

Saldanha Gallery, Fort Dunree, Linsfort, Inishowen
No 12 - Dec 5th 2021

Buncrana  based artist Geraldine Timlin presents a much anticipated solo show at Artlink Fort Dunree. Geraldine is a well known local artist who has a long association with Artlink, working with the founders in the early days designing and delivering community-based arts projects. She currently works in Special Education in Co Donegal supporting individuals with Special Needs, and is founder of the Avant Garden, a space for nurturing creativity and exploring the natural environment. Her own artistic practice explores aspects of deep ecology and our interconnectedness with the natural environment.  She uses photography and film as tools in her creative investigation of environment and space, building a visual narrative of place and being.

Silent Spring draws on the philosophy of Buddhism and Deep Ecology, looking in depth at the actual reality of humanity’s relationship within the natural world. The exhibition presents photography and video, recorded by Geraldine during the lockdowns of Spring 2020 and 2021. Photographic panels merge landscapes and rivers, human form and trees, representing our interconnectedness within the ecosystem. A short meditative film projection with immersive sound, designed by Pedro Rebelo, invites the viewer to share the stillness and flow of the natural world.

‘Silent Spring’ , the title of Timlin’s exhibition, references a pivotal piece of writing by the mother of environmentalism, Rachel Carson. In 1964, Carson foretold of a future where we would experience a silent spring, where no birdsong would be heard because ecosystems risked being eradicated as an effect of the human overuse of DDT and pesticides.

Timlin says “As we emerge from eighteen months of experiencing a global reduction of human activity, a spring without voices became one, not as Carson had foretold, but one where birdsong replaced human voices. The very audible sounds of nature emerged louder and clearer, because of the lack of air and land traffic. The birds were having their ‘Silent Spring’ with little human interruption.”

Silent Spring is an invitation to come along and be present. It is a distillation of recorded space, sound and stillness - a chance to contemplate the questions: where do we go next, as individuals, as a community and society? Do we return to the speed of life before restrictions were imposed? Have we been offered this pause in our existence to reflect and recognise our place in the deep ecology of the planet? 

The exhibition is open daily Mon-Sun 10.30am to 4.30pm from Friday12th November to Sunday 5th December 2021.