Crisisium humanitarus
In 2024 I transposed the concept of floating and buoyancy to a completely different location, one within the magnificent St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. I was approached by Jonathan Baxter, embedded artist at the cathedral and A+E project to make an installation for the Summer programme 2024 , I created a floating plastic fossil installation above the high altar.
‘Crisisium humanitarus’
I was inspired by the marine fossils in the cathedral’s Frosterly Marble altar and steps, containing now extinct animal shells and corals which grew 1 surface line daily, a clock preserved in deep time.
In response, I located contemporary ‘fossils’ made of waste plastic sheets, sewn together using dressmaking shapes, referencing our clothes as outer layers, forming human scale cocoons, shelters or containers. For me the making process is very important. I used sewing, which I find meditative and therapeutic, to create a sense of protection against the uncertainties that may lay ahead.
By siting this work at the Cathedral’s high altar, I was asking the visitors and the congregation to examine the wounds of environmental exploitation and extraction and to consider the part we may play in this. By contrasting deep time with the immeasurably short time that we now have ahead to act responsibly, I was posing questions about our resilience to act and our communal moral distress as we witness changes unfolding –
- Are we hiding in plain sight of the facts?
- Where does the concept of sacrifice connect here? Who or what is being sacrificed, and by whom?
- Are we keeping ourselves ‘safe’ in the short term, at the expense of other species?
- Are we examining our morals, seeking guidance and acting as best we can as individuals and communities?
The installation did not provide any answers but I hope raised questions to take away and ponder.
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