AWAKE @ Roots - Art in the Forest - A Contemporary Art & Poetry Exhibition
Posted by Richard Whitcomb
AWAKE@ROOTS
The seeds of a unique collaboration
AWAKE@ROOTS is an exhibition reflecting on the ancient past and the possibility of a greener future. From the Great Green Wall across West Africa to the rewilding of the Atlantic Rainforest up and down the West Coast of Scotland to conservation and rewilding of the Indonesian forests, our future must be one of respect and love for a resurgent nature. Meanwhile, the ancient oak forest which is hosting the meeting of these three artist creators, holds so many echoes of an ancient past when similar forests stretched across much of Scotland and folk survived and flourished by working with and within them. These three contrasting practitioners, Andrea Dow through poetry, Anthea Spivey through photography and me, Grace Siregar, through mixed media, are all reflecting on the environments we have grown up in and our hopes and fears for the future.
Dow's poetry takes us down under the forest to her imagined world where grief and hope exist alongside each other entwined amongst the forest roots. Spivey takes us to people she has grown up and lived amongst in Senegal and draws attention through her photography to the need for acceptance and understanding between people, in this case people with albinism. In my work, I invite you to explore the interaction between nature and the world of modern materials and how we need to heal our relationship with the natural world.
Bringing our contrasting histories with us, Dow from Bute, me from Indonesia via Senegal and Spivey from Australia and New Zealand via Senegal, the Balnakailly Woods bring us together in an intriguing trio of media and styles through our poetry, photography and installation art. You the viewer will bring your own stories and imaginations into the mix and this way every visitor will add a new ingredient to this natural art space.
Grace Siregar,
Rothesay, Isle of Bute,
5th May 2023
Balnakailly Old Oak Woodland, Rhubodach - Isle of Bute, Balnakailly Old Oak Woodland, Rhubodach, Isle of Bute (north end), PA20 0QL,