Initiated Desiring Universe
Mixed media installation, 625 x 215 x 284cm, 2026
INFO
A mixed media installation informed by structures, textures and underlying narratives encountered during walks on Findhorn Beach.
In this littoral environment, I witnessed visual parallels between the constantly changing dune margins and the lifecycles of provisionally made concrete anti-tank blocks. Produced by hand in the 1940s from beach sand and pebbles, the geometric defensive structures are now crumbling and returning to the beach. In this process, rusted skeletal steel reinforcements are revealed, mirroring the sinuous natural grid of marram grass and tree roots protruding from the adjacent eroding coastline.
I explored these material resonances, investigating tensions between image and object, surface and substrate, commonplace and uncanny. I considered these ideas through experiments with printmaking, drawing and casting with pewter and sand.
Photographic screen prints act as facsimile of the actual concrete, whilst casting moulds echo shuttering techniques used to make the beach defences.
The resulting staging of found and constructed materials considers the coast as an imaginal space; playfully challenging notions of landscape as a solid, unmoving backdrop upon which human activity occurs.
As part of the extended programme at I was delighted to present a talk further exploring the work in converstaion with Tim ingold ︎︎︎
The exhibition ran from Mar - June 2026 and was the result of the Hawthornvale Mentorship programme.
Further info here︎︎︎
︎ - Ross Fraser Maclean