Angela Gilmour
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SHADOW FORESTS
ANGELA GILMOUR AND BETH JONES, JOINT EXHIBITION
Lord Mayor's Pavilion, Ireland
In association with Sample Studios
March 16th to April 23rd, 2022
To coincide with National Tree Week and International Earth Day
Angela Gilmour and Beth Jones at the Lord Mayor's Pavilion, Ireland
Opening Remarks
Green Party MEP Grace O'Sullivan
Shadow Forests is a multi-media, immersive installation focusing on the intersections of deep time, climate change, and the expansive life and death of forests.
This exhibition in The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion will focus on representing four ancient forests, utilizing the artists’ field research and that of supporting scientists in each location: The 385-million-year-old Cairo and Gilboa fossil forests of New York are the oldest in the world, followed closely by the ancient forests of Svalbard, High Arctic. The Gearagh in Cork is a 9,000-year-old submerged glacial woodland, flooded in 1954 to support a hydroelectric dam.
These forests are gone, leaving shadowy traces of what they once were. The artists capture these shadow forests in their work, and provide an introduction to the science behind their demise and their historic impact on the planet’s carbon. Deep time continues to influence the present day, and Shadow Forests will draw attention to the extraordinary history of trees, the critical nature of our existing woodlands, and the importance of preserving forested environments for the future.
The artists are extremely grateful for the generous scientific support provided to this exhibition by: Christopher Berry, Ph.D., University of Cardiff (Paleobotanist); William Stein, Ph.D., State University of New York, Binghamton, Professor Emeritus (Paleobotanist); Sean Mackay, Ph.D., (Glaciologist, Geomorphologist); Lisa Amati, Ph.D. New York State Museum (Paleontologist)
