Laura Donkers

My practice takes a multifaceted approach, exploring the physical and spatial thresholds of places through their diverse geographies, histories, and communities. Interpreting art as a verb, I foster its dynamic, participatory nature to generate collective reflection and active engagement. I use field research methodologies to collect and present primary observations, which emerge through drawings, prints, film poems, and public interventions. Through these interactions, the intricate layers of meaning embedded in our environments encourage deeper reflection on the significance of place in shaping human experience.

My current project, Energy Fields, responds to the Atacama Desert in Chile, where lithium, copper, solar irradiance and extractive economies converge within one of the driest and most solar-intense landscapes on Earth. Developed through a seven-week residency, the work uses frottage, cyanotype chemistry and field observation to register the desert’s surface, atmosphere and energy. By allowing sunlight to become an active material within my drawings, Energy Fields reflects on place, extraction, renewable energy and the visible and invisible forces that shape human experience.

I have been settled in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland since 1988, as a horticulturalist, artist and researcher, completing a Practice-led PhD in Contemporary Art Practices at the University of Dundee in 2020. This work explored collaborative artistic co-creative methods to strategically promote eco-social regeneration for small island communities, and included research visits to Aotearoa New Zealand, to gain underpinning knowledge of indigenous embodied knowledges. I became a temporary NZ resident (2020-2024) to develop several creative projects but returned to the Isle of North Uist to continue developing ecological work that offers audiences a reflective space in which to consider the hidden forces that shape contemporary life, and to engage more critically with environmental responsibility.