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Bénédicte Coleman

Bénédicte Coleman_ In studio

Having spent the earlier part of my life in Cork, I moved to Beara in 1989 and have lived there since. While studying at the Crawford College of Art and Design from 2009-2013, I discovered a great material while foraging in garages –discarded vehicular air filters. These have become a major part of my work: I enjoy their capacity to imply sentience and to project multiple meanings.

A lifelong preoccupation with collecting coastal debris, which started on the Normandy coast when staying with my French grandfather as a child, and continued along the Beara coastline with my own children years later, has led to a large collection which I use as material for installations, both taxonomic and environmental.

My work usually takes the form of installation: a series of visual manifestations where the viewer is invited to fill in the narrative as best fits their own interpretation.

I like using cast-off materials and media, both man-made and organic, possibly because this focuses attention – both my own and that of the viewer – on actual outcomes rather than on the expectation of an anticipated result. My practice also involves drawing, photography, occasional printmaking, mixed media modelling and other techniques. I work a lot with children: I like the spontaneous way they manipulate materials, with no preconceptions as to their purpose or value.

In The Garden of Last Things, 2015, Seekers (detail), Sarah Walker Gallery.
In the Garden of Last Things, 2015, Gatekeeper (detail), Sarah Walker Gallery.
Beach Storage Project, 2017, Cahermore (detail).