Geraldine Timlin and Pedro Rebelo, took part in the International Atlantic Residency Exchange at Eastern Edge Gallery in August 2022. Geraldine is a visual artist living and working in Donegal. Her work explores aspects of Deep Ecology and our interconnectedness with the natural environment. She uses photography and film to document the creative investigation of environments and space, creating a visual narrative of place and being.
Pedro Rebelo is a composer, sound artist and performer working across socially engaged sonic arts, immersive listening experiences and chamber music with electronics. He is Professor of Sonic Arts and Director of the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Both artists have been collaborating since 2020 on work across different media with a focus on image and sound installation. The artists’ work often interrogates our relationship with nature through experiential and immersive environments. Both artists led and worked extensively on socially engaged art projects nationally and internationally.
Over the course of the month-long residency, the artists traveled throughout Newfoundland, capturing soundscapes, landscapes, stories and experiences based on a project titled Shaped by the Sea exploring commonalities between Ireland and Newfoundland through lives shaped by the edges of the Atlantic Ocean, representing separation and connection. They became aware of the rootedness of the people, their relationship to the land, sea, sky and the sense of connection with those who came before.
Through research, conversations and exploration of the natural environment along the Newfoundland coastline, Geraldine and Pedro met individuals and communities whose lives have been directly affected by land and sea. They worked with participants including fishermen in Ferryland and Branch, artists in Port Union and St John’s, foragers, business owners in Quidi Vidi, and Inuit throat singers, in capturing their unique connection to place and the shared ocean.
The artists were struck by the strong preservation of Irish culture, language and traditions that have been maintained in Newfoundland for nearly 300 years. The marked similarities in physical appearance, accent and common expressions, preserved songs, and the almost identical landscape was a unique experience they still reflect on.
They are continuing the Irish section of the project along the west coast of Ireland, working on creating an interwoven audio and video installation for completion and distribution in both locations in 2024.
- October 31, 2022
