All that Glitters, All in Hand

Ideas for the residency seem to be revolving around 2 main elements: gold and the symbol of the hand. Gold is one of the base elements, the hand is a symbol of humanity, human consciousness and connection with the elements. Both of these have links with alchemy, which also connects to Allenheads, it's lead mining history and the alchemists attempts to transform lead into gold. Both are symbolically linked with duality.

Hand = Body
Gold = Transition

Gold is only one letter away from God

• Gold is the most malleable metal know to man
• For scientific application of gold see - Trust in Gold
  
• In religion and mythology it has been used to symbolise both good and evil, a blessing and a curse
  
• It is often used in spiritual iconography to symbolise the divine, though it has also been used as a symbol of idolatry
  
• It is very important in mythology, in alchemy it is the ultimate goal, it has the power to heal - the golden fleece, it is the curse of Midas, it symbolises the greed of humankind - the golden egg
  
• It is bling...

The hand is often used to represent the body or humanity, it has a rich and ambiguous symbolism and meaning and this is why I often use its image in my work. Hands can also be linked with duality – symbols of power, dominance and enforcement (a fist) and of meditation, healing and enlightenment (an open palm). Left and right also represent a duality between yin and yang, light and dark, past and future. Hands can be seen as a primary method of non-verbal human communication. The hand also has certain symbolic connections to the 5 classical elements: earth, fire, water, air and aether.

At the moment gold and the symbol of the hand seem connected in a bit of a loose web...

Gold > mutability > alchemy > transformation > lead > mining > Allenheads

Gold > iconography > spirituality > belief > healing > symbolism > hand

Hand > five > pentagon > transitional > viral > mutation > gold

Hand > five > symbolism > classical elements

Mining and the Elements

Allenheads village was founded on the lead mining industry, without this rich supply the area would probably never have been established as it would have been considered too inhospitable due to it's elevated location.

Alan Smith gave me a tour of the area surrounding Allenheads village which really helped to put things into perspective, giving me an idea of the geographical and cultural landscape and history. It also helped to bring into focus some of the information which I received on my visit to Killhope Lead Mining Museum during the first visit to ACA.

We began at the source, the watershed, high above the valley, an area of land where the water collects and is held. The land itself is reminiscent of a bog in texture, though as the water is the source of the river and is constantly moving it is not as rich in terms of biodiversity.

The village of Allenheads was founded on this supply, it's location further down the valley making full use the building force of the water. Alan and I traced this journey seeing the ways that the water was controlled and manipulated using dams and other methods of channeling to make full use of it's potential power and other properties in the various processes of mining the landscape.

We passed one of the last remaining examples of a 'cockpit' on the UK, a strange connection to the past. We also discussed the division of land in the pre-farming times of the mines, where each miner and his family were self-sufficient. Each would have had a designated piece of land, known as a 'stint', a term appropriated into our language.

One of the most intriguing things was the link between mining and the base elements - earth, fire, air and water. Remnants of this connection and the areas mining history can be seen everywhere, the landscape itself has been altered by the relentless churning of earth which has been deposited into large mounds, now softened with age and vegetation. It is hard to imagine the scale of the mining, or how the landscape would have looked in its heyday.

Triparks - Dartmoor Showing

The website to accompany the Triparks program is currently under construction, check for further information - http://www.triparks.info

INX - Istanbul Newcastle Exchange

In early January this year I began working with Newcastle based performance artist Carole Luby, planning a visual and performance art event to take place in July 09. We have just received a positive funding decision from Arts Council England, North East and are about to get started with planning (and re-familirising ourselves with what we said we were going to do...).

In March last year Carole, myself and 3 further North East artists - David Foggo, Sally Madge and Ilana Mitchell - traveled to Istanbul to take part in Perfomance Zamani (Performance Time), an international festival of performance art. The event we are planning in July will involve a reciprocal exchange and 5 Turkish artists will travel to Newcastle to perform here with us. The original 5 North East artists will also make new work along with 3 further invited artists, Claire, Fiona Wright and 1 further to be confirmed.

More to follow...

Virus Ultrastructure

Computer generated visualisation of Herpes Virus by David Bhella, my principal contact at theMRC Virology Unit, Glasgow

Page created by David Bhella for the MRC website:

http://www.mrcvu.gla.ac.uk/research/bhellad/virus_structure.htm

Molecular Machines - a collaborative project between David and Artist Murray Robertson:

http://www.molecularmachines.org.uk/

Other pages on virus structure:

http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/mmi/stannard/linda.html

http://www.microbiologybytes.com/introduction/structure.html

Neon Tessellation

Tailings

I met up with Satinder for a casting session in preparation for the prosthetic tail he is sculpting for me. We did a quick test of the gold make-up he will be using too. The colour really brought out the detail in the skin, emphasising the intricate pattern of lines and cracks on my hand. A simple adjustment can have a profound effect, the hand painted gold seemed to detach itself from my body, became 'other'. Held completely still I felt I no longer had the power to control it, the more I thought about it the more distant and alien it became.

Setting the Fell on Fire