Jackie Flanagan Visual Artist
Nordica I
Acrylic and household paint on canvas
11" x 31"
2009
Nordica II
Acrylic and household paint on canvas
11" x 31"
2009
Nordica III
Acrylic and household paint on canvas
11" x 31"
2018
Nordica IV
Acrylic and household paint on canvas
11" x 31"
2018
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Nordica V
Acrylic and household paint on canvas
11" x 31"
2018
The Snow and Ice Palimpsest
The palimpsest ('again' - 'scraped') is synonymous with the additive-subtractive process. As snow and ice melt and retreat, they leave behind traces of their existence in the landscape. Just like a palimpsest, each new layer of fresh snowfall and ice adds to the existing surface. And, as the snow and ice melts and recedes once more, newly inscribed surfaces are revealed once more - in this instance, for the Nordica series, it's a geographical cracked terrain. By appreciating the snow and ice palimpsest, a deeper understanding of the trace is formed. The trace is both presence and absence.
"The trace is the mark left by absence". Jacques Derrida
'with the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the first dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow' Jack London
Nordica draws inspiration from time spent across the Arctic region. The textured surfaces of the palimpsest sculptural-paintings have the ability to capture the ephemeral nature of flickering light and in doing so, echo the equally ephemeral nature of snow and ice. The use of horizontal composition mirrors the flat geographical landscape, as is evident in parts of this region, in particular Lapland. This lends itself to a panoramic view, allowing the viewer to become part of the experience.
An Archaeology of the Unknown is a series of on-going work charting an expedition from Sub-Arctic regions through to the Arctic and plays on archaeological tropes of excavation, stratigraphy and psychoanalysis. Journeying in the Arctic is cold and dark, yet illuminating, which I have expressed as a sensory, emotional and imaginal response to the landscape through sculptural-paintings, drawings and photography.