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29 March 2024  


Lorraine Cross, Garzweiler Panels: Last One Standing 2014

Lorraine Cross, Garzweiler Panels: Last One Standing 2014

Lorraine Cross, Garzweiler Panels: Last One Standing 2014
This fingernail house symbolises the long and solitary journey that one resident Mr. Stephen Putz, of Immerath, Düsseldorf
travelled to take his case to Germany’s Constitutional Court with the support of BUND (Friends of the Earth).
He lost his case before a panel of 8 judges.
Click to enlarge image

Artwork

Lignite results from compressed vegetation over millions of years. This brown coal has a low heat content, high emissions of CO2, is uneconomical to store or transport over long distances and only 25% is usable with the remaining 75% redeposited on site forming mountains the size of the Benbulben formation in Sligo. Despite this, Germany has brought lignite mining to expansive industrial levels. In the process, dozens of villages are literally transplanted and an estimated 40,000 people involuntarily displaced in order to excavate the coal beneath their homes. This dystopian reality receives scant media reportage.

Artist

Winning the NUI Art and Design Prize in 2014 meant that Lorraine could undertake a research trip to document lignite coal mining at Garzweiler in the Düsseldorf/Cologne region. It also funded her Master’s Degree in 2015. Since this trip, Lorraine has participated in her Master’s Degree show, plus further solo shows in Ireland and one in Italy. She has contributed to group shows in Italy, New York, Glasgow and Vienna. Her work to date is largely based on Garzweiler.

www.lorrainecross.com

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