Cairi Jacks - Portfolio
Moss Den,
Wales 2013
Interactive installation.
Moss - Thuidium tamariscinum, Rhytidiadelphus loreus, Hypnum andoi, Kindbergia praelonga, Dryoptris dilatata, Hedora helix, Oxalis acetosella
150cm x 150cm x 70 cm.
Plant Walk
June 2015
Edition of 20 books printed on silk card
15cm x 21cm
http://cairijacks.co.uk/yew-tree-copse/
Yew Tree Copse
July 2016
Site specific sensory audio walk.
Nest Collection
Spring 20181
Sculpture
Driftwood, various nests, stones, shells, feathers, found objects.
25cm x 70cm
Mandala
January 2019
Temporary installation
Made up of many watercolour drawings.
Aprox 3m across
Conversation Piece, plant walk story string
January 2019
Documentation of participatory art event
String, pressed plants, labels
Aprox 3m long
Mobile series
Sparrowhawk mobile, road kill, 2018.
Golden Plover mobile, Storm damage, Ynys Enlli, Spring 2018.
Woodpecker mobile, Cwm Einion, Spring 2018.
Feather Chandelier
April 2109
Installation sculpture
Honeysuckle and various feathers
43cm diameter
Leaf Skeleton Dress
September 2017 – April 2019
Sculpture
Sycamore leaf skeletons, netting and thread.
Human sized
Sheep’s Wool Nests
May 2019
Sheep’s wool and farmers mark paint
Aprox 8cm diameter (palm sized)
Sheep’s Wool Nests. Wool collected from the west coast of Ireland. Sheep are grazed on rugged places. Land often considered unsuitable for other kinds of farming and food production. Places in which people have struggled to survive off the land and make ends meet. Many survive off subsidies. And yet often these same subsidies encourage farmers to undermine the biodiversity and long term sustainability of the very land they are farming. Through pesticide use, artificial fertilisers, mono-crops and hedge slashing for extra inches of field. These guardians of the land and of food production have their arms twisted behind their backs. How can we change the story so that farmers can farm the land they love, and which has often been in the care of their families for generations, providing food for us all, whilst simultaneously protecting and nurturing that land for the future and making a decent living at the same time? I’ve heard this story here and back home in Wales. We must work together, with respect for traditional cultures and respect for the land itself, to ensure a sustainable future for food production and the lives of those producing it. All flourishing is mutual.
Cwm Rhaiadr Nest
June 2019
Sheep’s wool and farmers mark paint
Aprox 20cm diameter
The wool this nest is made of was collected by my friend who is a shephard from a farm that he works on in the mountains of mid Wales. The people who work this land lost their son a few years back. He would have inherited the farm. Now they are retiring from their tenancy and leaving the valley. Their story makes me think about how a family is connected to land over generations, and what happens to the heart, and the soul, and the soil when these connections are severed. What is lost when a child dies. When the nest is empty. What home means. This wool is from Glaspwll, Blue Pool. Grief and loss can feel like a bottomless blue pool. I offer this nest up as a resting place for all those whose grief has made them feel homeless.
Fleet
May 2019
Beach clean baskets made from old fishing nets found on beaches in South West Ireland. Galley Cove on the Mizen Peninsula, Red Strand near Clonakilty and Cobh harbour.
Aprox 18cm diameter