Absent Voices – Mhairi Killin

10 Jul 2009 in Argyll & the Islands, Visual Arts & Crafts

An Tobar Arts Centre, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, until 5 September

Detail of work from Precious Cargo by Mhairi Killin

Detail of work from Precious Cargo by Mhairi Killin

THIS LATEST solo exhibition by Iona-based artist Mhairi Killin demonstrates the artist’s absolute engagement with visual language, beautifully distilled into five sculptural installation pieces. The artist’s characteristic fine craftsmanship in a variety of disciplines, including silversmithing, weaving, drawing and sculpture is successfully taken to a new level in this latest body of work.

The multilayered nature of textile construction draws a powerful thread between the contemporary artist and the work of her ancestors. Killin’s work is at once epic and intimate, her sensitive handling of materials and intricate construction finely balanced with the conception and composition of larger scale sculptural forms.

The recipient of a Creative Development Award from the Scottish Arts Council, the artist has continued to push the boundaries of her own technique with tenacity and skill, investigating techniques of digital imaging onto silver and creating a wonderful interplay between natural and handmade marks. Exploring themes of journeying and separation, Absent Voices is a powerful and deeply moving statement of cultural decline and endurance.

In Waulk/Wake (Wooden Bobbin rack, silver threaded bobbins, woven panel of silver wire, monofilament thread, etched silver, etched glass table on wooden table frame), handling of materials such as glass eroded by the etching process, translucent woven microfilament, text suspended in lustrous silver and gossamer-like frayed edges of weave create an evocative representation of the fragility and transience of human memory.

From bobbin racks mounted on the wall above, silver threads are drawn down into a woven panel placed upon a waulking table of etched glass, a verse of waulking song visible where each weaver would have stood as part of the circle. What is so affecting about this work is its human presence, though not in any literal sense. Each silver thread catches the light, a family name suspended from it, the interplay of light and materials adding to the ethereal quality of the work.

The delicately rippling lines of the silver weave read like a ghostly echo of the rhythm that would have pounded the cloth upon the table, a reflection of the way in which the rhythm of the craft was central to people’s lives and is no more.

Coupled with this tangible sense of loss is the inherent beauty of the work, the care and reverent attention to detail that is transformative. We feel loss but we also see the continuation of traditional rituals of creation in the artist’s work. However fragile and delicate the light upon the thread may be, the artist makes it powerfully visible.

Waulk/ Weave is not rooted in nostalgia or sentimentality, but a resilient and radiant sense of hope. The artist reminds us in a whisper that our memories, personal and collective, are what truly define us. The sense of suspension in this work is extremely poignant – each thread a life, each life remembered both in the creation and viewing of the work.

Like its companion pieces in the exhibition, visual language is distilled into poetry, each work is a creative act of remembrance, personal to the artist but equally a collective expression of human identity. The words of the waulking song from Bheir mi Sgriob do Thobar Mhoire/ I will take a trip to Tobermory are well chosen within the visual work for they echo the personal and collective fields of reference of Killin’s weave.

The song is culturally specific in terms of location but universally empathic; “I would sleep with you without a pillow my head in the hollow of your shoulder”, a timeless expression of tenderness and love. Use of primary sources such as poetry, waulking song and correspondence between Iona and the New World link human experience past and present throughout the exhibition.

Prayers To Mary (Etched Silver, wire, paper, brass organdie) is a superb example of a work led by texture and form. Each individual component of the three dimensional work arranged in cruciform is a work of art in itself. The entire piece hung slightly out from the wall suspends it mid-air like a vision. A variety of textures within the work, together with the purity of white and silver, render each prayer precious and unique.

Finishing techniques used in silversmithing contribute to the subtle variations and detail of each piece while contrast, depth and layering of oxidised and etched silver, stitched wire, waxy luminous paper and rag papers draw the eye compellingly into the work.

Previously known as St Mary’s Cathedral, Iona Abbey has remained a site of pilgrimage for centuries. The artist draws our attention to that which is hidden in Prayers To Mary, alluding to the abbey’s former name and associations with the feminine, transforming prayers or hopes traditionally attached to the cross then burnt into physically tangible yet visionary form.

Killin’s choice of materials, the healing and transformative associations with silver, together with the overall structure communicate immediately and imaginatively with the viewer. The strong devotional aspect of the work is actually the prayer of creation itself. The simplicity and elegance of form overall is reminiscent of St John’s Cross from 8th century Iona, but within the cross there is an infinite variety of surfaces which the viewer may connect with, irrespective of faith or belief.

A series of three studies, The Blessing Of The Ship (Found objects, etched silver with text from The Blessing of the Ship Iona Press, 1887), is a another example of the way in which the viewer is led into the work in a meditative way. Here burnt fragments of wood create a three dimensional drawing with beautiful textures of powdery charcoal contrasted with inlaid silver.

There is something assured and elemental in Killin’s mark; the way each sculpture is composed reveals a fluid and accomplished approach to drawing as a foundation of the artist’s practice. Charred by fire each component of the triptych reads like calligraphy.

This quality is particularly powerful in Precious Cargo (Boat fragment, photo etched/etched silver). The naturally eroded elongated boat fragment peppered with salt spray contrasts grain of wood and the action of water with the glint and lustre of hand worked metal. The fluidity of the drawing is enhanced by oxidisation and etching which introduces a finely controlled tonality into the gestural mark.

This can clearly be seen in the sweep of the upper scroll form expanding the field of reference from the intimacy of the sketchbook to the studio wall and into the gallery space. The concertina-style unfolding of postcards and correspondence to loved ones together with inlaid plaques – “Precious Cargo, June 1847, 98 People” – on the upper surface of the boat form (which we do not immediately see) refract light outwards onto the gallery walls.

Killin’s approach to the etching plate achieves the effect of a daguerreotype, a finely wrought living surface defined by skilled deliberation and accidental mark. Light and shadow in relation to the main sculptural form is beautifully rendered achieving a depth of image and a unity of technique and ideas that is masterful.

Boat Of Blessings (Boat fragment with etched silver inlays, silver boat), a prow emerging from the corner of the gallery contains a powerful invocation. Upon the seat a crisp origami-style boat of etched silver rests, delicate threads drawn through the structure and dangling into space, “a vessel and repository for contemplation”.

Like the threads that extend beyond the waulking table edges in Waulk/ Wake, they enter the consciousness of the viewer, an invitation to the imagination. At the heart of all these works is a profound stillness, the relationships between them adding layers of potential interpretation freeing to the mind. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to construct their own paper boat of blessing, adding this to the larger vessel. These are to be released onto the ocean at the end of the exhibition, carrying forward individual thoughts, hopes or blessings.

Though not part of the official Year of Homecoming programme, Absent Voices is an intensely engaging exploration of personal and collective archaeology. It is a significant touchstone not only in terms of the artist’s individual creative development but in relation to how we visualise the Highlands and Islands as land, people and memory.

Killin’s work is a continuation of a rich visual culture we have yet to fully acknowledge and a potent example of innovative contemporary art practice. Absent Voices is distinctive not only for the artist’s ongoing commitment to her craft but for its soulful intelligence – this is an exhibition which invites closer scrutiny and repeated viewing.

Following its current showing at An Tobar, Absent Voices will tour in 2009/2010. A hand finished artist notebook documenting the working practices of the artist will also be published to accompany the exhibition.

© Georgina Coburn, 2009

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