Agency for nature

About this activity.

In Agency for Nature, Northern Irish artist Diane Henshaw invites us to view the natural world not as passive scenery, but as a vibrant, politically potent agent. Influenced by philosopher Jane Bennetts concept of vibrant matter, her work foregrounds the agency of both living and non-living phenomena.

Originally from Islandmagee, County Antrim, and now based in rural Tempo, County Fermanagh, Henshaw works within the Irish tradition of dinnseanchas mapping place through story to create landscapes that are at once abstract and narratively rich. Through layered inks, acrylics, and pastels, her mark-making weaves together atmosphere, memory, and history, reflecting a deep attunement to the vitality and rhythms of the land.

Her career spans more than three decades, with exhibitions across Europe, North America, Asia, and Indonesia, and residencies in Antwerp, New York, Kerala, Delhi, and Odisha, as well as at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, and The Model in Sligo.

Agency for Nature channels these experiences into a body of work where drawing becomes advocacy listening to the vitality beneath the lands surface, illuminating environmental justice, and asking how art might give voice to the rights of the non-human world. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections in Ireland and internationally.

Instagram: @di_henshaw

Studio of Wilma Vissers.

info@wilmavissers.com
0031628718558

Location.

De Portiersloge
Haddingestraat 26
www.wilmavissers.com