Still Sounds - Crypt Gallery

About

In her practice Margaret considers history and heritage in the context of our increasingly globalised world. She is especially inspired by the tension between the power and fragility of nature and memory. This leads to work in different media, sculpture, photography, print, film, sound and installation. Collecting and cataloguing family photographs and cuttings are an important part of the process.

Margaret's Scottish roots are a powerful influence on her work, personal stories as much as the myths and folk tales. In particular she explores the Isle of Lewis with its ancient stone circles and celebrated oral tradition, a culture grown from season and place.

Still Sounds at the Crypt Gallery looks at the broader issues of identity and community by examining the interweaving threads of family history. It is Margaret's first solo show.

You are free to make your own journey through the interconnecting passages which house the four related parts of the exhibition. Videos can be viewed in two rooms. One film is a short documentary, the other is shown as a multilayered projection, a response to the material and content. Two corridors contain hangings of lightweight see through fabrics which conceal and reveal simultaneously.

The first area contains hangings created from family photographs. Here, painting on printed voile refers to the Victorian practice of hand tinting photographic prints. The second area of drapes represents the Standing Stones of Calanais through the ancient technique of silk painting. The fragile nature and lightness of the transparent silk which evokes the transience of memory is contrasted with the weight and permanence of the Stones.

Waves of sound permeate the space, a combination of song with recordings taken over the last three years in Glasgow and the Western Isles where Margaret's family originates. The audio installation explores the ability of voice to evoke memory, redefining our sense of time and place.

Margaret created Still Sounds as a series of screen prints on tissue paper. She presented it as a walk through installation of printed and painted hangings for her degree show in 2011. It has evolved into the work you experience here today at the Crypt Gallery, and is an ongoing project.

http://www.margaretmooreart.com