“On the one hand, you can identify with them. You can see the hand of a human being. But, on the other hand, the time frame is so huge that you can’t really comprehend it.”

Barbara Knežević’s practice explores the meaning and purpose of objects. When she learned of the Lepenski Vir archaeological discovery on the banks of the River Danube in the former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and the curious monumental sculptures, half humanoid and half fish, created there 10,000 years ago, connections between ideas of nationhood and displacement, as well as her quest to discover the drive behind material creation, gave rise to the production of her first film, Gvozdene Kapije (The Iron Gates), and a set of related sculptures.

“I like to think that pain has the potential to transform in some way, and it all depends on how you look at it.”

Samir Mahmood reflects on his move from a background in medicine, particularly health promotion, to his practice as a visual artist, in which he explores the connection between the material and the transcendental, often using his own body as a starting point.

From early collages, Samir, whose origins are in Pakistan, has moved to miniature painting, adopting some of the skills and norms of the tradition from the Indian subcontinent, but also subverting it by introducing themes relating to the experiences experienced of queer people.

“The thing that we can do as artists is to create public space so that the complex reality that farmers are dealing with can be heard and seen.”

Deirdre O’Mahony’s intensively researched collaborative projects, which can encompass film, installation, performance, feasts, pedagogical platforms and more, engage with the politics of land and landscape, often through the lens of food and farming. Now, she thinks she’s found a way to make the EU’s policymakers listen to what farmers are saying about their experience of climate change.