Human intervention has left an indelible mark on natural environments: from the introduction of invasive species to the reshaping of landscapes through urbanisation and agriculture. Yet nature itself is an active agent, reshaping human systems in turn – storms toppling trees or animals altering habitats. Marielle MacLeman’s The Visitors delves into these intertwined forces. Using salvaged and scavenged elements, MacLeman undertakes a nuanced exploration of native woodland and its precarious place within the interplay of human and non-human activity through a series of artworks that navigate themes of loss, preservation, and environmental change. Rather than casting judgement on these interventions, her work acknowledges their complexities and aftermaths. The exhibition, contained within a single room, resembles a carefully arranged stage set, inviting viewers, visitors, into a space that balances fragility with resilience.
Marielle MacLeman, The Visitors, installation view, Butler Gallery, 2024. Photo: Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy the artist and Butler Gallery.
Theatre stages, as we commonly encounter them, are flexible, immaterial spaces where entire worlds can be conjured and transformed at a moment’s notice. Their sets, inherently mobile and ephemeral, shift seamlessly to accommodate new narratives with minimal effort, transporting audiences into alternate realities, activated by actors and dramaturges. MacLeman’s exhibition mirrors these qualities of a theatrical set, but rather than actors animating the space through dialogue and movement, it is the visitors who activate her environment. Delicate artworks and dematerialised painted sets, crafted from natural materials, encourage the audience to step into a scene imbued with the textures and colours of native landscapes. Plants from gardens and woodlands provide the dyes and pigments that define the exhibition’s palette. These organic forms also inspire ornamental stucco made from pulped lab coats – an unexpected material choice that bridges past and present. This connection links certain historic estates, which have introduced invasive species into native woodlands, to their contemporary use as research hubs, addressing today’s environmental challenges. In doing so, MacLeman’s work creates a compelling dialogue between ecological histories and the potential for restoration.
Marielle MacLeman, Openings (Ends.) Leitrim Textured IV–III, 2024, installation view, Butler Gallery. Photo: Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy the artist and Butler Gallery.
Centred on the longest wall of the gallery, facing the entrance, is a flat portal, a thin woven-silk textile rectangle representing a door, with the door-frame suggested through an abstract set of simplified white-painted forms on the wall – two tall square smooth post columns with a square Tuscan base and a fluted fringe horizon. Leitrim Textured (Study No. 5) (2024) depicts the kind of interior domestic passage you might imagine separating bedrooms rather than securing the barrier between public and private space. The contrast of strong, erect pillars next to a delicate fabric panel, floating centimetres from the ground and ever so slightly off the wall, emphasises the material fragility of this arrangement, comprised of silk with natural dyes of cherry laurel, ivy, birch, oak, wood, cotton lab coats, fallen ash leaves, and felled ash trees. This beautiful, ephemeral drape sets the tone for the material culture of the entire exhibition (or theatrical set), the presence of the portal suggesting that we are on the inside of this world where silk, netting, rope, and linen constitute a kind of enchanted architecture.
Marielle MacLeman, The Visitors, installation view, Butler Gallery, 2024. Photo: Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy the artist and Butler Gallery.
An ‘altar’ of sorts, Threshold (2024), sits in the middle of the room, its surface composed of a rhythmic arrangement of mosaic-like tiles crafted from the same materials and dyes as the door: a patchwork of gentle and ephemeral textiles, seemingly not secured to its plinth. The natural colours of the textiles match the walls of the space. A series of miscellaneous items rest on top of this altar, including an overturned structured fabric vase, unravelling after its fall, and two bondage wraps seemingly just undone. The set of The Visitors has a slightly abandoned, haunting appeal; however it is this altar, more than anything else in the exhibition, that appears to have been deserted mid-action, leaving behind the unguarded traces of a human presence. This is contrasted with a second ‘altar’, Understory (2024), hiding behind a partition, on the reverse of which are pasted various styles of columns, crafted from the same material as the modest door on the wall. This altar features a similar but more minimal tile pattern. At the centre, a single wooden stick and iron cylinder are delicately arranged in such a way that it feels as if any intervention would topple them.
Marielle MacLeman, Understory, 2024, detail, Butler Gallery. Photo: Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy the artist and Butler Gallery.
This theatrical set of carefully crafted material reimagination is completed by a large veil, Façade (2024), made from debris netting, silk, ivy dye, and mordants. In theatre, the use of a curtain is understood to distinguish and delineate sets and scenes. Here, the veil marks the entrance to a marginally more familiar domestic space, complete with decorative finishes and a fireplace, Fireplace (2024), both freestanding and painted on the wall, as if casting an illogical, surreal shadow. A silhouette of a vase appears over a series of wall panels whose structure appears to collapse before us. Though frequently flat in structure, the simplicity of theatre sets conveys something essential about space, demonstrating how it can be deployed to evoke depth, emotion, and meaning through suggestion rather than substance. This is how the work in MacLeman’s exhibition operates too: the audience are the actors who activate this built environment. Through the application of craft techniques, MacLeman transforms salvaged materials into a tableau that is both transient and deeply familiar, hinting at the interplay of human and natural forces shaping the world.
Marielle MacLeman, Drawing Room, Ornament, 2024, installation view, Butler Gallery. Photo: Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy the artist and Butler Gallery.
At first glance, the use of a staged scene motif might seem incongruous with an exhibition so deeply rooted in ecological themes and the reimagining of broken or discarded materials. However, it is precisely this motif that allows MacLeman to explore how our experience of nature is curated and mediated. Landscapes are rarely untouched; they are shaped by human intervention, framed by ownership, and imbued with aesthetic and utilitarian value. The theatricality of MacLeman’s work reflects this reality, emphasising how the natural world is constantly presented through layers of culture, history, and science. By framing the gallery as a staged environment, she encourages viewers to question their relationship with the land and the ways in which it has been transformed and decontextualised.
Marielle MacLeman, Façade, 2024, installation view, Butler Gallery. Photo: Ros Kavanagh. Courtesy the artist and Butler Gallery.
Transformation lies at the heart of MacLeman’s practice. She incorporates materials like rope, commonly associated with forestry and urban construction, to create an environment that speaks of disruption and impermanence. These elements serve as a reminder that no matter how long we have inhabited the landscapes of this island, our presence and impact are notable for their fleetingness. For better or worse, we remain temporary visitors to the enduring, resilient living systems of the land we inhabit.
Sara Muthi is a curator and writer based in Dublin.
