On April 20 2016 Karen Ingham delivered the first in our series of Artists’ Talks on her work for our latest commission: Pembrokeshire Drover. This talk was an opportunity for people to come along and see how the project is progressing, as well as gaining an insight into Karen’s process and the ideas and concepts about Haverfordwest’s landscape which she is exploring through the film.
Place, belonging, community, nostalgia are embedded in the human psyche.
– Karen Ingham
Drawing on the idea of a palimpsest Karen explained how the film is a conceptual representation of landscape, rather than a literal documentation of the areas roads and histories. She described the instability of maps as ‘a metaphor for change, evolution, submission,’ in the way they are constantly changing to reflect new land uses, highlighting how they might affect the way we think about towns like Haverfordwest.
Building up a picture of how the historic figure of the drover is still relevant in the shift between cattle drovers to droves of tourists today, Karen outlined the themes and ideas which have emerged in Pembrokeshire Drover: Memory, inscription and place; History; States of mind; and Time and motion in the 21st century.
Karen’s talk was followed by a Q and A, with the audience of artists and non-artists, sharing anecdotes of Haverfordwest’s past, as well as hopes for the future:
Even to a non-artist I first came across the ‘palimpsest’ in the writings of Hoskins (Making of English Landscapes – worth a look).
Haverfordwest was described as ‘Dodge City’.
A very enjoyable and informative presentation. Looking forward to the events this Summer.
The pleasure craft on the Cleddau outside the Lab were fond memory of childhood.
Karen is currently filming and editing and is hoping to show the finished product as part of the Haverfordwest Festival in June, followed by an exhibition at Oriel Y Parc and an accompanying artist’s book which will be available at The Lab.
You can follow Karen’s progress on her blog.
