Lauren Judge and Dolostone:
Making the Pluriverse Visible
6 January – 3 February 2024
Deep Water Gallery, 585 Bedford Street, Unit #3, Wiarton, Ontario
Lauren Judge’s visual dissertation is a body of work developed from a ‘research-creation’ process to materialize the pluriverse. The pluriverse was born as a geopolitical concept, imagining our world where many worlds can fit. Judge’s research extends this concept beyond its human-centred origins to re-imagine it as inclusive of non-humans and render it visible. The pluriverse is a critical framework for understanding how visual artists and their non-human co-creators are visualizing or re-imagining their worlds.
This body of work was created and co-authored with dolostone, the sedimentary rock containing the mineral dolomite and results from the diagenesis of limestone. Dolostone forms the escarpment of the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula, where Judge’s research-creation took place. This body of work was primarily created in the alvar landscape of St. Jean Point Nature Preserve.
In the spaces between us – dolostone and the artist – there is an atmosphere of exchange. Dolostone gave to this body of work its impressions, its texture, a tactile story of its deep time. Judge gave to dolostone representation and translation in craft. Throughout the research-creation, she tried not to physically extract anything from dolostone. The research-creation was a reciprocal process of storying, or world-making, together. If art-making is a way to construct the pluriverse, then co-creating with non-humans is part of the pluriversal fabric, and non-humans like dolostone deserve a place in the geopolitical understanding of it.
Lauren Judge was raised in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, but spent much of her childhood on the beaches of Lake Huron and her Nan’s cottage. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at York University (2003, History & Humanities), her Masters at the University of Waterloo (2005, Public History), and is soon to complete her PhD at Wilfrid Laurier University (Geography and Environmental Studies). Lauren first learned about painting from her father, Martin Ronald Judge, an accomplished local portrait artist and feminist sci-fi writer. Lauren’s practice explores ecofeminism, co-creation, speculative or imaginary futures, and the pluriverse. Since 2009, Lauren has practiced professionally as a painter and has artworks in personal collections across Canada, the US and the Netherlands.
Feature Image: “Breakout dome in dolostone cave (Prairie du Chien Group, Ordovician; Crystal Cave, near Spring Valley, Wisconsin, USA)” by James St. John is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Lauren Judge