Segura: New Art, New Nature

Willie Doherty (Photographer)

Research output: Non-textual formExhibition

Abstract

Group Exhibition at the Ulster Museum which exhibits Willie Dohertyʼs work , Segura (2010) , a video installation.

‘Segura’ was shot on location in Murcia in response to the aim of Manifesta 8 to engage with the north-south divide, specifically with Europe's present-day boundaries with northern Africa and its interrelations with the Maghreb region. Given the current international concerns about migration, refugee status, trans-nationalism and the new borders of Europe, both psychological and geographical, the Region of Murcia was a conceptual launching pad for contemporary art projects about how artists respond to these issues within a broader, historical context.

After a period of research in Murcia, Doherty identified the river Segura as a location where some of these concerns were painfully manifested. The Segura flood plain is crucial to the agricultural infrastructure and economic health of this region but is under pressure from an increasing demand for fresh water. Many of the illegal immigrants who came from North Africa to Spain seeking employment find themselves homeless under the arches of the motorway bridges that cross the river.

The research tests ways to make visible these complex issues through using a hybrid of documentary and more speculative shooting and editing methods and raises questions about the relationship between place, documentary practices and fiction.

The exhibition, largely drawn from the Ulster Museum collection, looked at the role of nature in the work of Irish and International artists over the past seventy years.
Original languageEnglish
Media of outputFilm
Size10 minutes Video Installation, Colour, Sound
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 10 Oct 2014
EventNew Art New Nature" , Ulster Museum, Belfast - Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Duration: 10 Oct 201410 Jan 2016

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