I am a filmmaker working primarily with site-specific moving image, audio, and performance. My practice is concerned with approaching landscapes, often framed in relation to the body and themes of spirituality, exploring both the sacred and the decayed.
'Mind Your Head' is a film about loss. Developed in response to a weathered ski lift that has become part of the landscape of the Pentland Hills, the lens imbues its mechanical cycles with a sense of grandeur and lends them a kind of sentience, perhaps imaging its significance in a post-apocalyptic future. Layered with a soundtrack composed of synthesised sounds from the ski lift and a specifically recorded group vocal performance, the installation evokes the harmonies and dissonances within this environment as I discover emerging themes of memory, spirituality and grief, and comparisons to cycles of life, death and afterlife.
My moving image practice is grounded in the rich tradition of artist filmmakers working with Scottish landscape, often in relation to ritual and mythology. My time on the MA Contemporary Art Practice course has been focused on developing a sustainable filmmaking practice, responding to site in a meditative, cyclical process, allowing the themes of the work to gradually emerge. I have begun working with improvisational performance as a way of using my body to respond to site, unearthing themes of religious guilt and cleansing.
I have a particular focus on fine tuning the installation of the work for each gallery space, through projection onto the walls or floor, multiscreen compositions and sound design, for a more immersive experience.
