National Museums of Northern Ireland

Three works by Elaine Shemilt have been acquired for the permanent collection of the National Museums of Northern Ireland: Snow Peak, South Georgia (2011, embossed print, 755x555mm); South Georgia Island (2011, embossed print, 755x555mm)  and Snow Peak, South Georgia (2011, screen print, 755x555mm).

These were from a suite of 7 prints based on the Island of South Georgia, which Elaine has made to explore the legacy of whaling stations on the Island of South Georgia on the edge of the Antarctic which today is a barometer for climate change.

In 2020 they were featured in a BBC4 programme Inside Museums, (episode 3) on the Ulster Museum in Belfast, broadcast on the 13th Oct 2020 at 7pm.  The programme was presented and written by Emma Dabiri, she wrote: “The final work I want to show you is also by a woman – though this one, interestingly, does the reverse, imploring us NOT to travel. Elaine Shemilt is a contemporary artist, whose practice in recent years has turned more and more to environment activism. This print is an outline of the Island of South Georgia. Situated on the edge of the Antarctic South Georgia is a place loaded with significance. It was once a base for seven whaling stations, home to a grisly orgy of blood and blubber, synonymous with the destruction of the natural world. But in recent years the island has become a bellwether for environmentalists. A barometer for the effects of climate change. Shemilt invites us to look at this simple beautiful object – an embossed line on card and engage with a terrifying idea… that unless things change, unless we change, there will be fewer places for gusto travel to at all. It demonstrates one of the most profound ways in which our world has changed. All that exploration, and the exploitation of the world’s resources, has created a world in which we need to travel less. Even after a lockdown, where the skies were empty of planes for weeks, we cannot afford to become complacent.”

Above BBC iPlayer page with Emma Dabiri

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000ng7k/inside-museums-series-1-3-ulster-museum and is available until 24 December 2021.

South-Georgia (2011) embossed print