NUMINOUS LANDSCAPE

The 2022 Visual Arts Scotland Annual Exhibition is now open to view online.

I am very pleased to have two pieces of work in the show, which was originally due to be held at the Royal Scottish Academy in January. The poster above will take you to the gallery. The VAS team have worked tirelessly to present the exhibition in its online format, so I would encourage you to spend some time viewing the diverse array of art in a variety of mediums. It is a privilege for my work to appear alongside such talent.

My contributions are part of a small body of images which are inspired in large part by the evocative work of poetry Ajar To The Night, by Autumn Richardson. Made at the tail end of 2020 after leaving Scotland, I knew that these images would eventually find their way into the world, whether together, or individually. It seems somehow fitting that these two returned to Scotland, where they were framed ready for exhibition, but have had to remain hidden. 

We Are Ajar To The Night, and Nothing Is Ever Taken. Nothing Is Ever Undone, are both available to purchase from the VAS exhibition, and can be shipped to you from Edinburgh. Images of the work framed are available (from me) on request. Framing by Detail Framing Studio.

Sink Into Mineral Darkness, and I Am The Shape Lifting From Earth, are available from me, but not currently via my webstore, so please email to enquire.  

Text in italics are passages by Autumn Richardson. In utilising lines from her work as the titles of these images, I do so in the spirit of honouring, dreaming into, and making visible, something which feels profoundly important to me. As I flick the through the pages of this beautiful edition (Scarlet Imprint hardback), I realise that there is so much here, contained in so relatively few words. I sense that this will be a continued source of inspiration, and encourage you to investigate further with the links provided at the bottom of this message.

We Are Ajar To The Night

Pastel and ink on paper

86 x 44 x 2.5 cm (approx framed)

The image will link to the work in exhibition gallery

without bones we are fluid

entering earth

without skin we are ajar

to the night

there is enough given for every

need and all

needs differ and are mysterious

to one another

Nothing Is Ever Taken. Nothing Is Ever Undone

Pastel and ink on paper

86 x 44 x 2.5 cm (approx framed)

The image will link to the work in exhibition gallery

Nothing is ever taken

Nothing is ever undone

I return to you now, a curse

netted to your own flesh

You who sowed me, thinking me lost;

dissolved to salts, to waves

Now tremble at my flowering

The three poems of which this book is comprised, speak to me of the eternal life of the Spirit, through the recurring cycles of physical earthly existence. Forms are grown, and just as naturally forms are shed, yet ultimately nothing departs. Our bodies are extensions of the earth, changing over time, but housing a consistent presence. When we have an experience of place, such as in proximity to the mountainous, we see the apparently solid surface of reality, yet the essence of the encounter as we perceive it inwardly is formless.

Sink Into Mineral Darkness

Pastel and ink on paper

86 x 44 x 2.5 cm (approx framed)

swift healer of passages

blood-binder

sink into mineral darkness

sink into thickets of scent

retrieve the forms immured there

In this body of work I have attempted to convey that close sense of connection between the temporality of the physical, and the eternal nature of the formless, that I felt when reading Richardson’s work. This year (2020) we have been collectively brought closer to these mysteries, and the delicate state of both human and planetary health offer an invitation, however unnerving, to bear witness to the fragile beauty of our earthly existence.

March 2022 edit: exchange invitation, for obligation.

I Am The Shape Lifting From Earth

Pastel and ink on paper

86 x 44 x 2.5 cm (approx framed)

For I am the shape lifting

from earth

And I am the water retreating from that form

I am emanations from precious

metals and stones

Prised from their long house

of darkness

Ajar To The Night was originally published by Scarlet Imprint, in several editions, in 2020. 

Corbel Stone Press is the small press run by Autumn, with her partner Richard Skelton. They also offer an edition of the text. Be sure to browse their website, to learn more of their creations and publications. 

Thank you for reading