Gradually Can you hear the talking? For the Living as we Die Mori Time and There Past Works

Can you hear the talking? is a Body of Work resulting from autobiographical research in Burgess’ visits to places of lineage in Ireland. The collection is made of rock castings, 35mm images, sculptural portraits, video, tracings and photoetchings made from microscopic images of the artist’s body, moss, and stone—materials collected and collated over the course of five years and frequent visits to Ireland. Together, these works explore the porous relationship between the human body and the body and memory of landscape, particularly that of familial homelands. Through this, Burgess investigates how matter and memory are ever-entwined.

The research took place between Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Spiddal and Ballyvaughan, centering around bodies or passages of water in Ireland. In this, the research unfolds as a living map—a layered dialogue between past and present, landscape and reflection, material and memory, and reveals the complex interplay between personal history and the physical world within deep time passages.

Can you hear the talking?, 2025