Palimpsest

Palimpsest, Lismore Castle Arts’ main gallery exhibition for 2019, is curated by Charlie Porter. Artists include Nicole Eisenman, Zoe Leonard, Hilary Lloyd, Charlotte Prodger, Martine Syms, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Andrea Zittel, many of whom will create new work for the show.

The exhibition takes as its starting point the definition of “palimpsest” - originally a manuscript or document that has been erased or scraped clean to be re-used. It has since become used to mean “something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form”.

The exhibition will explore ideas of connections across time, how locations have multiple uses through time and multiple meanings, what endures and what disappears. The idea for Palimpsest came from the richly layered history of Lismore itself, and the verdant nature that surrounds it.

Shown with these works will be archival material relating to Lismore from the Chatsworth Archive. To sit alongside Palimpsest, students from Blackwater Community School will work with the curator to gather oral histories from parents and grandparents in Lismore, ensuring the town’s histories are recorded for posterity. These histories will be presented alongside the exhibition, offering a living archive of the changing nature of the town and its people.

Author Olivia Lang has written a text to accompany the exhibition.

Palimpsest will also feature events and initiatives designed to engage diverse audiences throughout the run of the show. This includes the design and production of a limited edition publication to accompany the show, launch event and seminar in Lismore, the production and dissemination of a Palimpsest map of the town and a series of film screenings.