Niamh McGoldrick-McGrath

My practice explores the formational relationship between the identities of people, place and time. In a world where our connection to nature has been diminished, my work reflects a desire to rekindle with the natural world by fostering a deeper relationship with the land around us. Driven by the belief that the land shapes us as much as we shape it, my interest lies in the ways that the landscapes we pass through over our lifetimes leave their mark on us and how that mark may differ depending on the point in time that we connect. 

To reflect my immersion in different landscapes , I use a process of collection. Stepping away from cartography and the human perception of land, I use environmentally reactive mediums, alongside textiles, as a means to alternatively and organically map my journey through landscapes, letting each environment map itself, leaving it’s natural imprint, without interference. Rarely going back to an environment twice, this process allows me to reflect the unique geology and climate of a specific place and time. 

In a world of Anthropocene, I centre the environments own agency in the process of making and prioritise letting the land be. I use a range of environmentally reactive mediums to document the land surface, climate, and my immersion in each environment. During this collaborative process, I let the light, precipitation, temperature and geology of each area take influence over the artwork, allowing me to collect identities and imprints of an environment’s true nature without bringing land indoors or interfering with the environment during the process of making. 

I use sewing throughout my work as a way of drawing, to display figures, topography, and texture to examine how the land we live in, occupy, and pass through plays a significant role in forming who we are.