Watermark - a photographic series by artist Michelle Boyle
We were delighted to showcase a photographic series by artist Michelle Boyle. This image series was part of the “Library Interventions” project. This project brings visual art and the ideas behind it to the library, with a list of books that aim to expand our thinking about the artwork.
About the Artwork
This series featured Michelle in the water-filled Cavan landscape where she lives and works. She swims year round in Lough Ramor and says: ‘Surrounded by nature, weightless and in the shock of cold, the water marks me. I am completely present and alive.’
Two of the photographs on display were taken by the Californian photographer Joslyn Laurence. Michelle and Joslyn met on an art residency in India in 2017. Their interest in the natural world and the wisdom held in women’s bodies led to a collaboration in Ireland, which is included in this series.
During Covid lockdowns, Michelle created a painting studio on her canoe and began swimming at Lough Ramor. This gave a new freedom to her creative process, and she started incorporating photography, video, and installation, alongside painting, into her practice. Her observations of water made her aware of the poor water quality in most freshwater bodies in Ireland and of her responsibility to address it through art.
She contributes to conversations about water from the intersection of art, science, and local community. The video stills in this series are taken from her public engagement project ‘what would water say if it could speak to us?’
Book List
As part of this project, the artist has made a recommended reading list to accompany this work. These books are available for borrowing at the library:
- Turning: Lessons from swimming Berlin’s lakes by Jessica J.Lee
- The god of small things by Arundhati Roy
- Follow me to ground by Sue Rainsford
- Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne
- Women who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
- The language of trees by Katie Holten
- The works of J.M.W Turner by Anne Hodge and Niamh Mc Nally (National Gallery of Ireland)
- The covenant of water by Abraham Verghese
About the Artist
Michelle Boyle studied Cultural Anthropology (BA) and Landscape Archaeology (MA) and tells of how her early art education and love of painting began as a child in the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. She continues to learn by travelling to look at great art first hand. Michelle has been a professional artist for 20 years with a studio base in Virginia and Cavan, and a developing practice in Mumbai where her birth father is from. Her art is about identity and place, explored through the lens of her mixed race visual inheritance and own identity being a mother, woman and artist in contemporary rural Ireland. Michelle’s work has been the subject of six solo shows in Ireland and India, most recently ‘Here is where we meet ‘ in the United Arts Club Dublin, ‘Freshwater’ Ramor Theatre Cavan, and ‘The Clothes on our backs’ Jehangir Art Gallery Mumbai, being the first Irish artist to exhibit in this landmark space. Recent group shows include ‘Exquisite River‘ at the Ely Centre of Contemporary Art USA , and Earth Rising at IMMA.
Gallery
