Aonachd | Sameness | Disturbance | Troimh a Chéile presents the work of three artists whose practices have an existing relationship to Identity and Place: Ingrid Bell, Clee Claire Lee, and Gina MacDonald.
Please join us for an opening preview at 7 pm on the 1st of September here at Taigh Chearsabhagh. The exhibition is free and open to all, 10 am till 4 pm, Monday to Saturday.
Taigh Chearsabhagh is pleased to host Aonachd | Sameness | Disturbance | Troimh a Chéile in conjunction with the first Arts Therapies conference to be held in the Outer Hebrides, hosted in partnership with the University of the Highlands and Islands. For more information about the conference, please visit the event page, here.
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Identity – 4/10 definitions
- The state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions.
- Condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc, that distinguish or identify a person or thing.
- The state or fact of being the same one as described.
- The sense of self, providing sameness and continuity in personality over time and is sometimes disturbed in mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia.
Place – 6/29 definitions
- A particular portion of space, whether of definite or indefinite extent.
- Space in general: time and place
- Any part or spot in a body or surface
- Position, situation, or circumstances:
- A region or area
- A mental or emotional state: I’m not in a good place right now.
Artist Statements
Ingrid Bell
My images have dealt with representing something of the various places I have lived in, through depicting well known cultural references, usually through the figure or landscape and then moving on to superimposing the landscape into the figure. The superimposing being suggestive of embodied experience and then of an embodiment of paradox experience. Ultimately, through the images I have engaged with the theme of cultural identity and embodiment.
I am interested in the challenges of embodying more than one culture, especially that of the less prominent or lost culture. In the process visual imagery usually comes to mind as a ‘fait accompli’, be it as a film, sculptural piece, book or print. I then work backwards to construct and manifest as close an image as that which appeared in mind.
I think I naturally fall back into the alchemy of printmaking. You take one material eg. collograph plate, and transfer it onto another material that is the paper and the marriage of the two form a third. It’s very much like a coupling and witnessing the birth of something new. Something that you have an idea of but actually never really know until the moment of reveal.
I also feel that the layering of images in printmaking is akin to a collection of memories. One image/memory at a time transposed upon another and built up to form a particular narrative. Like a deck of transparent illustrated cards. The same cards but shuffled to reveal another story, another image.
Visit Ingrid’s website.
Clee Claire Lee
Voice and voicelessness run through much of my work as I explore in-betweenness and transition, connection and disconnection, and forces that differentially impact those at the intersections of society. I do this by suspending ethereal sculpture, creating immersive and site-sensitive installations with wire and other physical or digital media, and playing with stillness and movement. My body is important both in the process and product of the work, from the laborious manipulation of threads, through to sometimes performatively becoming a part of my work.
Visit Clee’s website.
Gina MacDonald
My work considers connections and a sense of place through beholden knowledge and haptic process. I use Harris wool and other natural materials to create physical objects that stimulate imagination and memory. The practical and symbolic elements of tradition and culture are threads that inform my work. I am particularly interested in how my art is perceived in relation to an island setting.
Visit Gina’s website.