The Recent, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, 2024

Katie Paterson, alongside Eglė Budvytytė, Helen Cammock, Dorothy Cross, Regina de Miguel, Mikala Dwyer, Nicholas Mangan, Angelica Mesiti, Otobong Nkanga, Micol Roubini and Simon Starling, will show in a new exhibition, The Recent, at Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh. The Recent takes us into a conceptual world of geological, evolutionary, human and environmental time, exploring what art can do to stretch the human imagination, and situate our actions and impact in a deeper, future-oriented timeframe. The geological ruminations that underpin the exhibition are deeply rooted in Edinburgh – a city punctuated by a dormant volanco – and the place that eighteenth century geologists James Hutton, and late Charles Lyell, developed the theory of deep time that is reflected in many of the artists’ works. To Burn, Forest, Fire by Paterson, uses scent to explore the first-ever forest on Earth, and the last forest in the age of the climate crisis. The artwork employs the senses to cultivate an intimate, intuitive experience that aims to transport participants through time as a reminder of the increasing levels of extinction caused by humanity. Also on show is Evergreen, an artwork which depicts every extinct flowering plant, brought together in an embroidery, reflective of the Arts and Crafts movement, whose core characteristics were the importance of nature as inspiration, and the value of simplicity, utility and beauty. Evergreen represents a reverence for nature, and mourning for all that is, or soon to be, lost.