CGI video, 3D prints , A1 digital prints.
In the Irish language, the seanfhocal, or proverbial expression, ‘Aithníonn Ciaróg, Ciaróg Eile’ directly translates into English as ‘it takes a beetle to recognize a beetle’ - widely phrased in colloquial usage as ‘it takes one to know one’ or ‘birds of a feather flock together’.
Through her installation work Aithníonn Ciaróg, Ciaróg Eile, Mollie Mia Murphy weaves Irish oral history into visual forms to explore and lament on the effects of the early 19th century Ordnance Survey on Irish contemporary and environmental landscapes. Examining the ecological impact of historical colonialism on language, cultural and land use changes in Ireland - in viewing land as a commodity - the artist reveals a whimsical connection that is lost.
From her reading of Irish folklore recorded in institutions across Ireland - at the National Folklore Collection, the National Botanic Gardens, and the National History Museum Collection - the artist makes digital studies with reference to mythical stories of revenge, dominated by the feared natural phenomena and flora and fauna, on those who attempted to meddle with and wreak havoc on sacred natural resources.
In the Gallery foyer space, Aithníonn Ciaróg, Ciaróg Eile takes form in rapid prototyped sculptures, digital prints and virtual landscapes. Through her imagery, Murphy imagines the Moss Beetle, the Bidessus Minutissimus, a once widespread species found slowly lapping water over clean silt on river edges - now regionally extinct through land use change - finding a new habitat in a virtual storytelling. Employed as a symbolic device, the Bidessus Minutissimus assumes a hybridised organic and digital contemporary existence in the role of Nature, classified in terms of extractivism in a late stage of capitalist society.
Link to catalogue: Aithníonn Ciaróg, Ciaróg Eile | Mollie Mia Murphy | National College of Art and Design, Dublin - NCAD Gallery & Public Programmes (ncadinpublic.ie)