The installation Embers was created for the exhibition Passage @ The Byre arranged by Bullseye projects at The Byre, an exhibition space located in the northernmost county of mainland Scotland. The exhibition can be viewed by appointment only until March 31st 2024.
This body of work references what Samuel Beckett scholars would call “skullscapes” and draws inspiration from his work, Embers, especially written for broadcasting and first performed by Jack MacGowran in 1959.
My work often deals with inner and outer boundaries and in the Cowbarn space at The Byre, I invite the viewer inside a perceived mental state, referencing the passage of time by contrasting the ephemeral with the surrounding structures of stone.
I approached the installation as though through the mind of a person whose memories have begun to deteriorate. Memories come and go, and the focus drifts between the imaginary and the real with no clear boundaries. The two standing slate stones serve as symbols of the unattainable, and the middle section is inaccessible, blocked off with fragile membranes of glass serving as a canvas for projections. I aim to provoke a sense of loss and fragility in the room, referencing the past at The Byre and the people who have lived there, but also our own fragility and sense of self, by using distorted mirrored surfaces that reflect back at the viewer.
A catalog for the exhibition can be viewed here: