I explored many aspects of string with this exhibition and have been inspired by the different uses and materials. I included quotes and texts in the exhibition from this research alongside poems by myself and Katharine Macfarlane as wall texts. These give a wider understanding to the context of the pieces.
Textile
awakens from silence and
stretches the thin thread
through millennia as
songs of sinnsear soar in voices
which have echoed
click, the clack of needles.
Sit for a time as roots wind around ankles,
stories gather, tether, bind.
Poem by Katharine Macfarlane
String
string
begat
weaving
begat
looms
begat
computers
begat
the web
Poem by Caroline Dear
The poem above references the direct connection between weaving looms which used binary punch cards to form the patterns to the development of early computer systems. I find it interesting that our metaphor for our virtual world references string the technology which we have lived with and developed for many thousands of years.
The first piece in the exhibition ‘Boundary’ is a thin red thread fixed off the wall at high level, this references ways in which our behaviour can be restricted, physically and metaphysically by subtle boundaries.
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| 'Boundary' Photo Credit: J Gillies |
Twenty five artefacts is a collection of pieces made using the techniques and / or the materials from the past. One for example is a direct replica of the rope found in the Lascaux caves, 17000 years old.
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| Circular Floor Piece Photo Credit: J Gillies |
A large floor piece, inspired by the netting which very early people made using plant materials and fine string, is made up of seven nets using nettle, soft rush, lime bast, hair moss, sedge and dandelion each made with different techniques.
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| Collection Photo Credit: J Gillies |
My own collection of found ropes shows heather rope, marram and rush ropes as well as the more modern coir rope. Inspired by the simple quote from Alexander Nicholson’s book, History of Skye, ‘Until about 1840, all sacks for holding grain were made locally from sedges, or from straw, and the collars used as harness for horses were manufactured from the same materials’, I made this ‘seic’, the Gaelic word for sac using local soft rush. This quote raised so many questions in my mind in relation to the landscape and the people living and working it; who gathered the material and when and who made these sacs and how long did each last…?
Material
Nettle for Viking sailsBog pine for Highland ploughsHair moss for Roman roadsStraw for Irish corn granariesHeather for gathering seaweed, Western Isles
Rush for Orkney kishiesWillow bast for hobbling cattleHorsehair for bird fouling ropes, St.Kilda
Purple moor-grass for fishing nets, Skye
Marram grass for coiled chairs, Scottish islands
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| Tweed Sample Book Photo Credit: J Gillies |
The three tweed sample books shows how using objects from the Portree archive as an integral part of the exhibition can show them in a new context and helps bring the archives alive. Alongside the sample books we have a weaving poem from Carmina Gadelica which details the system for warping the looming then an interpretation of a quipu, the artefact from South America which encodes information using string and knots.
The black in the middle of the red,
The red in the middle of the white,
The white in the middle of the green,
The green in the middle of the white.
The white in the middle of the blue,
The blue in the middle of the scarlet;
The use of red thread for healing and protection is a universal tradition. The piece ‘we all need healing’ encourages people to help themselves to a small length of red thread. While beside this we have ‘Three red circles’, referencing the traditional ‘charm of the threads in the Highlands. ‘
The final section explores the vestiges of string in language and in working string. ‘Vestiges of string I and ii’ is a selection of objects that highlight the way that string is organised and worked with, while Beag-fhaclair, developed with poet Katharine Macfarlane is a glossary of words connected with string mostly in Gaelic which highlight these lost everyday connections.
R
Ròpach
tha an ròpana cuartagan air an làr
seo sgeul gu latha
Entangled
the rope is lying
coiled up on the floor
a story until dawn
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| Quipu Photo Credit: J Gillies |