During her Artlink residency, Martina O’Brien developed new work rooted in her ongoing research into marine environments, technology, and ecological memory. Her focus was on what she describes as “ocean memory; the ability of water systems – biological and physical – to encode, store, and release information over various timescales.” Working from the coastal context of Dunree, she explored the area as “a fluid receptacle of maritime crossings, intricate ecosystems, and submerged histories,” including the legacy of Operation Deadlight and the contemporary impact of coastal darkening.
A key outcome of the residency was latent lumen plates, a series of 30 hand-printed glass-plate negatives made in response to microscopic deep-sea organisms. Drawing on the scientific and photographic history of glass plates, the work “asks for close attention and other modes of attunement to creaturely life that is almost imperceptible yet integral to ocean systems and cycles.”
Alongside this studio research, Martina facilitated Outport Echo – Mediating the Area, an art walk combining installed research, artworks, and public conversation, including a dialogue with local artist and historian John McCarron on cultural memory and place-based knowledge.
The residency also initiated a new strand of research examining the “paradoxical escalation of rare earth mineral extraction, driven by the green transition.” This enquiry informed the moving-image work metallic(Y), which reflects on shifting definitions of value and power, and the ecological and geopolitical tensions embedded in processes of decarbonisation.
