[ANU Pacific.Institute] Seminar - Ruth Brennan - Trinity College, Dublin

Mon Dec 4 12:49:41 AEDT 2017

Dear Pacific Institute,
Please share this seminar notice with your members.
Many thanks - Rachel
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Guest Lecture and Film Screening

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Dr Ruth Brennan
Research Fellow
Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities
School of Histories and Humanities
Trinity College, Dublin

Wednesday 6th December 2017
12:30-1:30pm
Seminar Room, Frank Fenner Building (141), Linnaeus Way, Canberra ACT 2601
Australian National University

Windows of opportunity: how the arts, humanities and social sciences can shape and enhance environmental policy
Drawing on my four art-science collaborations between 2011 and 2016 with visual artist and film-maker Stephen Hurrel, I will talk about how the arts, humanities and social sciences can help to open up reflective and less threatening spaces for dialogue between policy makers, those who live and work with the marine environment, and the general public.

Positioned at the interface of science, policy and the arts, Dr Ruth Brennan's work as a marine social scientist is highly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. Dr Brennan uses innovative visual, participatory and qualitative methodologies to explore how the articulation of culturally-embedded relationships between people and place can facilitate engagement with the related policy environment.

Dr Brennan's research offers insights into different ways in which marine spaces are conceptualised by users, managers and human-environment interactions, how this relates to marine resource governance and, in particular, what it means for community engagement.

Lecture will be followed by a screening of Ruth Brennan and Stephen Hurrel's film 'Clyde Connections'. All welcome.

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Clyde Reflections - Hurrel and Brennan (2014)

Clyde Reflections is a meditative, cinematic experience based on the marine environment of the Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland. It was funded by the 2013 Imagining Natural Scotland initiative which was created to 'explore the interplay between the natural world and its representation, and promote deep collaboration and knowledge exchange between the creative and scientific sectors.'

Produced by artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, the film features underwater and microscopic footage, combined with voice recordings of seven people who have a close relationship with, or specialist understanding of, the Firth of Clyde. These include a retired fisherman, a marine biologist, a diver, a marine conservationist, a spiritual leader and a physical oceanographer.

Brennan conducted unstructured interviews around a series of themes with these individuals, recorded by Hurrel, with a focus on what the individuals perceived to be 'natural' and 'not natural' in the Firth of Clyde. Led by Hurrel, both worked together to combine the documentary-style approach of the interview stage with a more ambient, meditative and poetic rendering of the material.

By engaging with people who connect deeply with their environment, Clyde Reflections presents a multi-perspective representation of a particular marine area to challenge a simplistic representation of this environment. The film provides a creative example of how 'landscape' is not a fixed entity, or separate from people, but is dynamic in terms of its socio-ecological properties as well as how it can be perceived.

The objective of Clyde Reflections is to open up space for contemplation by reflecting the unfixed, shifting nature of relationships between people and place.

The film can be viewed online at http://vimeo.com/89793693. It was installed at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, from May-July 2015.

Biographies

Stephen Hurrel works with video, sound, sculpture and text to explore relationships between people and places. His artworks combine art, science and digital media to explore and record interactions and tensions between nature and contemporary society. They draw our attention to current ecological issues such as the impact of industry on the natural environment. As well as making art for the gallery, Hurrel produces commissioned artworks responding to specific environments such as rural landscapes and marine environments.

Dr Ruth Brennan is a marine social scientist based in the Centre for Environmental Humanities, Trinity College Dublin. She uses innovative visual and participatory qualitative methodologies to explore how the articulation of culturally-embedded relationships between people and place can facilitate engagement with the related policy environment. Positioned at the interface of science, policy and the arts, Ruth's work is highly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. Her research offers insights into different ways in which marine spaces are conceptualised by users, managers and human-environment interactions, how this relates to marine resource governance and, in particular, what it means for community engagement.

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Rachel England | Australian National University
PhD Scholar | Fenner School of Environment & Society
ANU College of Science
m  0411 536 585
e   rachel.england at anu.edu.au<mailto:rachel.england at anu.edu.au>
Building 141, Linnaeus Way, Canberra ACT 2601

+ Social Media Editor for Global Sustainability journal https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-sustainability.
+ Environmental Scientist with Alluvium Consulting Australia http://www.alluvium.com.au<http://www.alluvium.com.au/>.

I acknowledge that I was born and raised on Wiradjuri country, and now live and work on Ngunnawal country, and I pay respect to all Elders, past and present.

Academia<https://anu-au.academia.edu/RachelEngland> | ANU Profile<http://fennerschool.anu.edu.au/about-us/people/rachel-england> | LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-england-22671630?trk=hp-identity-photo> | ORCHID<http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0139-7890> | ResearchGate<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rachel_England> | Twitter<https://mobile.twitter.com/RachelEngland27>
Skype: rachel.england

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