Over the last year or so I’ve been considering the concept of ‘a sense of belonging’ and these thoughts and questions have increasingly started to show up in my practice. Early in 2021, for my exhibition at Tighnabruaich Gallery ‘Undertow’, I explored my own sense of belonging, or lack thereof, to the place I’ve lived all my life and the possibility of finding this connection somewhere else. A small series of works followed on from this exhibition, delving deeper into the relationships I’ve built with the villages of Cowal and its community, exploring the elements and experiences which forged these connections.
In early 2022 I spent a week long artist’s residency at Cove Park on the west coast of Scotland. I applied for this residency to further develop the significant shifts in my work over the last couple of years. To spend a period of focussed time physically removed from my ‘normal’ life and its responsibilities. To be fully and actively engaged with reading, writing and experimenting with my practice. I set no expectation of my time, no goals or outcomes to reach, but simply allowed the experience to unfold naturally.
The group of paintings I made immediately following my residency, which carried a working title of ‘Symbiosis’, speak of this experience, of the deeply symbiotic relationship with the landscape and constant connection to the natural world. The shifts in light and weather, the driving rain that stung my skin as I walked, the wind that whipped up the hill and howled through our building, the waves that moved my body in the loch and the glorious low winter sun that appeared through the clouds to light up the landscape. I was always conscious of the movement outside my window, boats travelling up and down the loch trailing white lines like a memory of their route, the wind moving the surface of the water, waves being pushed along until they break the blue-grey expanse with their wee white heads.
‘Remnants of Passage’
The work also explores the sense of community I found and the interconnectedness with my fellow Cove Park residents, albeit transiently, of our solitary endeavours. It considers how these interactions, the sharing of ideas, time, food and materials enhanced our experiences. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this part of the residency, I can be a bit shy and perhaps socially anxious with people I have never met, especially following the period of time we have all just experienced through the pandemic. Alongside the fact that this would be the first time I had ever been away anywhere alone, I was a little apprehensive. However, what I found was an instant feeling of total comfort and ease within a group of truly warm and open people. I felt immediately embraced by this small community we formed, the concept of what we were doing and in fact by the building itself, nurtured and protected from the elements.
As I moved layers of ink around on these canvases the memories of this time, of deep connection to people and place, replayed through my mind. Long hours in my studio making hundreds of tiny repeating marks as I considered the constant movement of nature, how we interact with it, our connection and relationships with each other and with the natural world.
‘A collective embrace’