For this exhibition Mackey presents new and existing works in relation to her on-going social investigation of land use, plant culture and community gardening. Mackey unearths rare archival material in relation to Dr. Keith Lamb’s record of apple species once found growing in a vast network of orchards in Ireland. Buffs coat, Clearheart, Greasy Pippin and Bloody Butcher are some of the apple trees sourced by Lamb, which Mackey explores to draw parallels between the processes of artistic, archival and site intervention and that of diverse food cultures. In challenging the monopolization of food production, Mackey also reflects on the wider geo-political effects of international patency laws such as ‘Order 81’ (Iraq, 2004), and similar European directives (ie. DUS Law), which discourage farmers from saving and re-using their indigenous seeds.
Christine Mackey is an artist and independent researcher who recently graduated with a practice-based PhD from the University of Ulster, Belfast (2012). She has received awards from The Arts Council of Ireland, Local Authorities, EV + A Limerick and Cultural Ireland. Her practice combines site-specific and public works, exhibitions, performance and art-books. Mackey has participated in a range of international and national residency programmes including: RIAA, Argentina (2009); Drawing Spaces, Lisbon, Portugal (2009); e-MobilArt: European Mobile Lab for Interactive Media Artists (2008-9) Greece, Finland, Vienna, Poland; TRADE with lead artist Alfredo Jaar, Leitrim/Roscommon Co.Co. (2008); Sanskriti Art Foundation, New Delphi, India (2007); Firestation Artists Studios Residency Award (2005); Site-ations International, Wales (2005/06); Teor/e Tica Costa Rica, Central America (2005) and The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (2004). She recently completed ‘SEED MATTER I’ for the Butler Gallery (2011) and a set of drawings commissioned by IMMA (2012) for publication ‘Line Exploring Space’.
Curated by Seán O'Reilly
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