CCA Project Space: Fragile Balance

September welcomes Tracy McCoey to CCA's Project Space. Tracy was the 2024 MFA Graduate Award Recipient from the University of Ulster.

Fragile Balance

If you have had a vaccine since 1970, or a joint replacement, radioactive tracer, IV fluid, then you have a relationship with the Horseshoe Crab. Horseshoe Crabs (Limulus polyphemus) are an ancient marine creature whose copper-based blue blood is used for a quality control test for anything that is placed inside the human body. The blood can detect bacterial contamination in very small amounts and reacts quickly and visibly. Every pharmaceutical company in the world uses horseshoe crab blood and a litre is worth £15,000. The blood is harvested from the crabs who are then cleaned up and released back onto the beach. Their survival rate is unknown, and draining 400ml of blood is thought to affect their reproductive strength.

The Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa) is a small migratory bird that flies from Patagonia at the tip of South America to the Arctic Circle (a 14,000km journey) to breed. They stop off to fuel up along the Eastern Seaboard of the US on Horseshoe Crab larvae. Red Knots are tagged and tracked to monitor their numbers to aid their protection and conservation. The Red Knot B95 has been given the nickname Moonbird because his longevity means that he flew the distance to the moon and halfway back in his lifetime.

Human activity has disrupted this fragile relationship and threatens to crash the viability of the survival of both extraordinary species. This exhibition is a small representation of the larger award-winning “Afterwards” installation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tracy McCoey is an artist, born in New York and in 2024 completed her Master of Fine Art degree at Belfast School of Art where she earned a Distinction. She grew up by the beach on Long Island, earned a degree in Biology and taught Marine Science for many years and marine issues continue to inform her artistic practice. She uses print and installation to create multi-layered work weaving environmental issues, socio-economic restructuring, museum culture, and personal history within a fictional archive.