Joe Hogan. Nesting

About

Since 1978, Joe Hogan has been working from Loch na Fooey with locally sourced natural materials to make indigenous Irish baskets. The nests he began creating over a decade ago add another dimension to his practice, allowing him to contemplate more deeply mankind’s relationship to the natural world.

Using his experience with materials such as heather, birch, larch and lichen, “the aim has not been to copy the nests of various bird species, but rather to make nest-like objects which prompt the feeling that we are looking at a bird’s nest, and thus evoke some of the feelings of joy and wonder which might accompany the finding of nests in the wild,” he writes. In this way, he seeks to capture the “sense of wonder” that ecologist Rachel Carson remarked is the greatest gift that can be given to a child.

Hogan’s nest-making presents his sustained exploration of the “great web” that Chief Seattle described – the interconnectedness of living things. The process of making nests has become a project through which Hogan seeks to explore and educate himself on the consequences of disturbing the delicate balance of ecosystems. By engaging with the diverse writings of poets, environmentalists and indigenous thinkers, Hogan has woven together a conceptual framework that gives his nests as much symbolic value as they are objects of wonder.