The Human Limpet Project: Where Humans and Limpets Meet

Authors

• Helen Garbett University of the Highlands and Islands

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54916/rae.141880

Keywords:

art, wunderkammer, limpets, nonhuman, assemblage

Abstract

The story of limpets, those conical sea-snails frequently found on rocky shorelines may seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but that is not the case. If given careful, prolonged attention, room to express themselves and an engaged receptive audience they reveal a richly entangled human-nonhuman story which unfolds over thousands of years. A process of art-based research, underpinned by new materialist thinking and practice channels this attentiveness, provides physical room, makes space for creative inquiry, corresponds with humans and nonhumans, and generates a willing audience with enchanting, potentially life affirming consequences.