This pilot artist in residence programme was set up by Moving Souls Dance with an original donation of funding by George C Clarke (uncle to Ginnie Wollaston). We worked with WWT Caerlaverock and We are Upland to recruit a visual artist Angela Alexander-Lloyd to create an exhibition and a sound installation in the site. She was given a brief to work with one of four migratory birds that regularly return to Caerlaverock and this year the selection was the whooper swans. We were curious as commissioners to raise questions about how climate change might have effected their migratory patterns.
Angela’s video projection onto ice entitled Faileas more than met the challenge of the brief –and revealed to all of us the power that art has to encompass complex questions but to present them differently so that everyone can understand or have their own interpretation of the work. Faileas projected the figure of a woman onto block of ice in which feathers from the whooper swans were embedded. The female figure on a repeating loop bent down to drink a cup of dark molasses – a substance akin to oil consumption with a passive face of continual consumption – chilling!
The sound installation took the participant around the site of Caerlaverock down to the hide on the marshes to learn about the changes local farmers, business men and women and MPs had noticed that climate change had brought to the area.It was obvious that most had witnessed these changes and with Caerlaverock being at sea level the rise of temperature that causes the icebergs to melt and sea levels rise – there is a risk of flooding! We can stop this behaviour but do we have the political will to do something serious to change this? This residency was crucial to raise awareness of these issues, gather good PR for this partnership and for the potential powerful statements through art making that can help us to change our behaviour of consumption.
We will be looking for a three year funding support this project into the future in partnership with University of Glasgow and other international partnerships.
https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/caerlaverock/
http://www.weareupland.com/projects/artful-migration-artist-residency/blog
Artful Migration – 2019 – 2020
We are in discussion with our partners WWT Caerlaverock and We are Upland to set up a new artist in residence programme for 2019 – 20. We are aiming for a longer residency for the artist to observe and focus on the Ospreys that visit Dumfries and Galloway during the summer. We hope to engage audiences and participants to witness the birth of the Osprey chicks, see the parenting skills of both, observe the first flight of the Osprey chicks and see them learning the skills of flying and fishing on the estuaries and rivers of Dumfries and Galloway. The artist will be asked to blog and take photos to encourage viewing at WWT Caerlaverock, Threave Gardens and Wigtown where Osprey pairs are known to nest over the summer. Read the blogs from Angela last year to discover her new skill of writing!
Take a look:
