Edwina fitzPatrick: UK-based art activator
My mission is to invite you to "re-view" your environment – to take a second look at it. I create visual stories (fabulas) about the ecology, nature and culture of a place through exploring mortality and love. This love might be for the loss of a human being, a mycelium network, or a felled tree. Everything living is destined to die, but on what timescale? An oak might live for a millennium, a human a century, an insect for a few days – yet they all coexist in the same space and immediate moment of interconnected reality.
Whilst being raised in a culture embracing western literary narratives, my practice is inspired by First Nation approaches to fabulas – ones that are cyclical, speculative and rooted in giving voice to the voice-less.
So, what's the time-line for this speculative narrative? The Anthropocene asks us to think chronologically – moving from beginning to end, but these visual fables might start in any part of time – jumping back and forth within a chain of events. Sometimes the artwork invites the viewer/participant to determine this themselves.
I use interactive fieldwork as my way of engaging with space and place. This involves layered onsite research, celebrating narratives and conversations that are deeply grounded (sometimes literally) in the histories and the specific qualities of a place. These inclusive projects engage with the value systems and priorities of local individuals because they are experts in where they live and work.
I also collaborate with experts across a range of disciplines, including horticulturalists, biodiversity experts, engineers, architects, perfumers, foresters, archivists and composers.
Website copyright: Edwina fitzPatrick 2024