The Plurality of Existence in the Infinite Expanse of Space and Time is an art project and poetry anthology by Clodagh Emoe and Crocosmia, a collaboration between the artist and a group of writers seeking asylum in Ireland. Exploring “representation from the unique perspective of those who are not represented in, or by, the legislative, cultural and political frameworks within our society. This project engages with cultural diversity, inclusion and the rights of the individual, through collaboration with refugees and asylum seekers living in Ireland.”
It began in the garden of the Spirasi Centre, Ireland’s only organization helping survivors of torture who are asylum seekers, refugees, or other disadvantaged migrant groups. Gardening created a shared space of equality and dignity and led to the formation of the working group Crocosmia which gets its name from crocosmiiflora, the scientific name for the common Montbretia – a wild flower found along country roads in rural Ireland is in fact native to South Africa. Minimally designed by John Sherwin, it references cartography with the poems afloat on empty pages. “Isolating country shapes from their neighbours and their usual place on the map, the linear forms symbolise the experience of the asylum seekers disconnected from their homelands,” says Sherwin.
