22 February 2012

CECHR work celebrated in new exhibition

Photo opportunity: 6pm on Friday, 24th February at Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, University of Dundee. The exhibition of work by Jean Duncan will be opened.

A new exhibition by award-winning artist Jean Duncan, celebrating the work of the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR), will open later this week.

The exhibition will be unveiled on Friday, 24th February at the Lamb Gallery, University of Dundee. CECHR is a joint initiative by the University and the James Hutton Institute to bring together researchers from a variety of disciplines to tackle some of the pressing issues facing today's world, especially around food, water, energy and health futures.

The scale and complexity of these challenges requires collaborative research and interdisciplinary problem solving, and Jean Duncan has been working alongside the team since August 2010 to explore the creativity central to their work. The process has inspired her to create new paintings which will be shown in the exhibition, and draws on the artistic talents of staff and graduate students.

Jean's sensitive and multi-layered approach to microscopic images of Capsella bursa-pastoris (Shepherd's Purse) links the plant in the forms used in research to the hostile environment of agriculture and pesticides which it continues to survive in.

She said, "I have had access to a fantastic and comprehensive collection of Capsella records, there is so much material to work from, and that's only one weed!"

As well as Jean's work, the exhibition also includes photographs, prints, films and models by CECHR staff.

The exhibition is being opened at 6pm on Friday, 24th February with a public talk on the submerged landscape of Orkney by Caroline Wickham-Jones from the University of Aberdeen, and Dr Sue Dawson, of the University of Dundee.

On 14th March, Dr Pete Iannetta of the James Hutton Institute will give a free talk about how Shepherd's Purse survives in such a hostile environment.

For further information, contact Matthew Jarron on museum@dundee.ac.uk or 01382 384310 or Jean Duncan on jeanduncan1@btinternet.com.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277