Opened on 1st November 2022, the string / lines exhibition brings together artefacts, stories, traditions and artwork inspired by research from a wide variety of sources all relating to string. The exhibition, held in Skye & Lochalsh Archive Centre, is the culmination of a year long project which explored string making over 50,000 years.
Section one - Árcéolas reflects on archaeological string fragments, the evidence we have from archaeology and includes a large floor piece inspired by the fine netting which neolithic and Palaeolithic peoples used.
Section two - Sìomanaiche investigates the ravelings and unravelings of ropemaking, the materials and processes with reference to the Highlands of Scotland in particular. This section includes a series of boxes which hold individual plants, string made from that plant and information about how it was used in the past. I have also included my collection of found ropes made from local materials; heather, rush, marram and a small scale ‘seic’ or traditional grain sac made using soft rush.
Section three - Tomhas explores marking, measurement and maths in relation to string.
This includes a large contemporary quipu made using local materials, referencing the lost knowledge that this represents along side three examples of Skye tweed weaving pattern books from the archive.
Section four - Creideamh highlights the metaphysical aspects of string, its mystical and magical properties. This includes a selection of artefacts relating to string from the archive and three red circles made from local materials.
Section five - Beag-fhaclair is a glossary of words connected with string mostly in Gaelic which highlight these lost everyday connections. I worked with the poet Katharine Macfarlane to pull together this collection go words and phrases which appear in full in the fragments book. Katharine has also written poems to reflect aspects of the exhibition.
The exhibition was hosted by Archivist, Catherine Macphee, and included Eilidh Mackenzie, musician, playing spinning tunes on the clarsach, Katharine Macfarlane, poet, performing the string poems and everyone enjoying a gathering and meeting new people.
