Hannah Imlach: Energy Objects

About

Imlach’s fascination with energy transition, particularly community-initiated projects, began with a residency on the off-grid Isle of Eigg in 2015. This exhibition brings together her sculptural, photographic and print works on this subject, alongside a newly commissioned sculpture series created in association with Aberdeen Community Energy and Peacock Visual Arts, supported by the Royal Scottish Academy.

The sculptures in the exhibition draw on the social and environmental histories of energy sites, namely Eigg’s hydroelectric scheme, the (now uninhabited) Monach Isles off the West coast of North Uist, and the banks of the River Don in Aberdeen. The pieces are inspired by natural forms, such as the logarithmic spiral of shells collected on Laig beach (Eigg); early technologies, such as the rotary quern stones carved at Clach Brathneach (Monach Isles); and current infrastructure, such as Donside community’s recently installed Archimedes’ screw (Aberdeen). The sculptures are kinetic, and participatory, intended to be carried, assembled and/or ploughed through the water.

About the artist

Hannah Imlach is a Scottish visual artist who creates site-specific and interactive sculptural objects informed by current environmental research. Since graduating in Fine Art from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 2011, Imlach has worked collaboratively within communities of specialist knowledge, completing residencies within research institutions, conservation charities and community groups. The outcomes of these projects include site-specific sculpture, photography and video, alongside exhibitions and participatory events.

Imlach is based at Glasgow Sculpture Studios where she creates her works using a variety of traditional and contemporary sculpture-making processes, such as origami, detailed woodwork, metalwork and 3D-printing. She documents her pieces within specific environmental contexts in still and moving image.

Significant projects have included: a year-long Leverhulme Trust-funded residency with marine and molecular biologists at Heriot-Watt University, creating artwork in response to Scotland’s deep-sea cold-water coral reefs; an 18-month commission with the Peatland Partnership, developing sculptural ‘instruments’ inspired by peatland ecology and restoration in the Flow Country; and a series of projects concerned with renewable energy transition, including a residency with the Not Just Energy Futures social anthropology research group at the University of Edinburgh, the Banff Research in Culture residency On Energy, and a series of sculptures informed by community hydro and tidal energy schemes on the Isle of Eigg, North Uist and in Aberdeen.