Christine Mackey, Seedboards 6. B.Sprouts, 2010-2013, Ink drawing, pressed plant material, photographic material and documentary archival prints, texts, paper constructed seed bags with drawings containing seeds, 77.5 × 99 cm framed

The United Nations has designated 2021 the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV), to raise awareness of the important of fruit and vegetables for everyone. To mark IYFV 2021, we have brought together a selection of artworks from the Arts Council Collection that feature fruit and/or vegetables. Artworks in this showcase span the history of the collection, with earliest being dated 1964 and the most recent being dated 2018.

Here, Christine Mackey, whose work is featured online showcase, tells us more about the featured artwork ‘Seedboards 6. B.Sprouts, 2010-2013’from the SEED BOARDS project and what it means to have this project as part of the Arts Council collection. Explore this and more from the Arts Council collection at instagram.com/artscouncilireland/   

The focus for this expansive project SEED BOARDS was on the ‘seed’,  - as a metaphor in terms of the interdependency of ecological systems, the piracy of plant organisms and the anomalies of food production and security. Fundamental questions that arose from this work include the fracture between scientific reasoning and indigenous knowledge and the cultural variances in how plants are used, managed and controlled. The creative quest was the occasion of encounters with seed savers, farmers and gardeners in different countries and learning of their methods of conservation including the historical and cultural origins of specific food plants. What links this work as exemplified through the SEED BOARDS is our universal attachment to plants as a source of energy and from which all life begins. They also expose differing cultural values concerning the propagation and uses of plants and our wellbeing and relationship to the food we eat and the care that we cultivate for our selves. With this approach we perhaps should rethink our relationship to plants from objects of use to equal allies that demand a subjective philosophical consciousness and respect for their long-term survival. 

The SEED BOARDS have a permanent home in the Arts Council Collection which means that this work like the seeds I collect from my garden can be can be cared for and circulated in public ways that I would not have been able to do so myself. The fact that The UN General Assembly has designated 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV) means that these works continue to find a voice as they reflect our current global concerns with life on this planet and the effects of global change and environmental degradation. These works keep the conversations going and with the support of the Arts Council Collection continues to inform and cultivate my practice to this day in new and challenging ways.

—Christine Mackey

issuu.com/leitrimchristine/docs/seedmatter // christinemackey.info

Since 1962, the Arts Council has been buying art from working artists. The Collection that evolved tells the story of modern and contemporary Irish visual art in a unique and fascinating way. Today the Collection continues to grow and is comprised of more than 1,200 artworks including sculpture, painting, performance, print, video, installation, and photography and other works, many of which are on display in public spaces all over Ireland for people to experience and enjoy first hand.

You can find out more at: www.artscouncil.emuseum.com.