The Emigrants I

 I am delighted to share this finished work, based on the statue of The Emigrants, in Helmsdale in the Scottish Highlands.

I always appreciate and enjoy when serendipity comes along and let you accomplish things. This work has come about because I was a) doing the course Visual Narratives, through Fibre Arts Take Two; and b) because I have an exhibition coming up in Scotland later in the year and some of the pieces will focus on this statue. I was fortunate enough to then have the online exhibition for students of the course to be called In Retrospect which made me realise I could probably bring all three things together and make a piece that suited them all.

I used techniques from the course, the work fitted the theme In Retrospect, and would be a great start towards the Scottish exhibition.

The work is an unbound book, presented in a hand stitched envelope made from Japanese paper rubbings from our cottage in Scotland, and from our Maleny home, that had been stitched together by machine, and dipped in beeswax. Held with thread from Scotland.

An envelope seemed appropriate - they travel between places...

Inside the envelope are 15 pages of an unbound book, made using techniques explored in the course. The work contemplates and considers what makes a home, and what it is that you would be trying to re-create when you have been forced from your home, and then moved to another country. What is it that home means?

The pages are both landscape and portrait in orientation and the 'title' page reflects this, with home written in both directions using vintage Letraset. 

Each page is a collage of different papers, images and techniques. Each page contains an altered image of the statue, in particular the woman, mother, wife, who looks back at all that she is leaving.

Here, her foot orientated to the past and the land she is leaving whilst everybody else faces forward and away.

Detail of shelter.

I think we often find solace at home, and I imagine it can be hard to find that in the same way in a new and unfamiliar place, country, culture, and climate. But perhaps we know we have created a home, when we do...

I recognise home isn't always a safe place, but it is a place where I feel safe and I imagine one hopes to create that feeling of safety in a new home.

Home can be a haven...

Home can be a place we find and provide care...

Home is a place that holds many memories...

The work is an unbound book, with 14 pages and a title page. The nature of an unbound is profound in my view. It enables a story to be told and re-told in different ways, as needed. As times change. As life changes. As our understanding changes. 

This unbound book also reflects how the foundational elements of 'home' can be re-built in new ways, in new places, creating new stories...

The work can be seen alongside other work by student of the course Visual Narratives. This exhibition catalogue shows so many beautiful pieces, so much heart and so much beauty and skill. I highly recommend a wander through the pages.

The 'hard copy' version of the catalogue will be available within a week or so, and I shall keep you posted.