Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until 31 January 2011

CREATED as a result of her earning the 2010 Sabhal Mor Ostaig Residency Award, Uamh, this sculpture and sound work by Gill Russell, a graduate of Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, is small but beautifully formed, writes David Pollock.

Three separate physical pieces occupy one darkened room in the basement of the Royal Scottish Academy building on Princes Street, with the sound and lighting effects used in the space designed to recreate the ambience of the Uamh an Ard Achadh (High Pasture Cave) on Skye from which Russell drew inspiration. ‘Uamh’ itself means ‘Cave’, for non-Gaelic speakers.

Detail of antlers from Gill Russell's Uamh (© Gill Russell)

The artist, as she reveals in her accompanying statement, is intrigued by “the relationship between the human and the cosmic” and our limited perception of time in relation to the unimaginable age of the universe.

She has reflected upon “our desire to connect with that ‘world beyond’ in some meaningful way, whether by scientific exploration or through religious encounter”, and there are multiple senses of the earthly, the mystical and the merely superstitious here.

In the centre of the room hangs what appears to be the root system of a tree, possibly formed from papier mache and reaching from ceiling to floor. Lit from above by an ultraviolet spotlight, it forms weird shadows on the floor, creating a fairy tale impression of the strange effects of nature which lurk underground, hidden from our sight.

Over in the far corner, meanwhile, is a barely illuminated arrangement which appears to consist of a mound of fur on which sits a pile of antlers, under a few bird’s feathers suspended on string and lit again in ultraviolet. It appears to be the spoils of an early hunt, or perhaps an unfathomable and primitive shrine to the gods.

Most intriguingly, a small round portal of around half a foot in diameter at calf height reveals a miniature spherical cave of metallic surfaces and what looks like a stone egg suspended in space within.

More than any of the other works, this piece offers a vision of the uncanny, and the soundtrack echoing through the gallery – an ever-present blend of horns, flutes and non-lyrical song performed by composer John Purser within the High Pasture Cave – reinforces this impression. The imaginative might hear distant wind, bubbling underground streams, movement in the darkness and the sighing earth, waiting.

The presence of life and the remains of history are evident in this imagined landscape Russell has created, but beyond that lurks the suspicion – as humanity has always tended to believe when left alone in the dark – that something else lurks here with them, unseen.

© David Pollock, 2011

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