Ley Lines

Ley Lines is a research and exhibition project exploring connections and tracing thread lines between Scotland and Australia. The project seeks to unearth hidden narratives of people and places from within institutional collections, employing a celestial metaphor to reimagine historical objects relating to civic identity, map making and territory charting.

Commissioned by Panel (Glasgow), Ley Lines was developed through a period of collection and archival research in the U.K. supported by Creative Scotland, and through a Research Fellowship with the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) and Sydney Observatory. The project uncovered significant artefacts including union banners and maritime signal flags held across six distinct museum collections, and a number of astronomical instruments brought to Australia from Scotland in the 19th Century by the astronomer and former Governor of NSW, Thomas Brisbane (1773-1860).

Ley Lines resulted in a body of work spanning textiles, video and sculpture, including a series of digital prints on velvet and silk produced in collaboration with the School of Textiles and Design, Heriot Watt University.

Ley Lines opened at the St Andrews Museum in 2017, before touring to Hawick Museum and Calendar House in 2018. The exhibition included a changing selection of historic collection material loaned specifically for each venue, allowing new and distinct local narratives to come to light in context with the commissioned work. Soft Chorus, a work developed as part of the commission, comprises of eight unique textiles dyed with native Australian plant material from Parramatta Park, Western Sydney. The work acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country, and pays respect to Elders past, present and future.

01—Soft Chorus, 2017
Linen, cotton, silk, thread and brass.
Dye colours drawn from Australian eucalyptus and acacia plants located in Parramatta Park, Western Sydney, And Scotch thistle from Goolma in the Central West of New South Wales.
180 x 120cm (irregular)
Photo: Document Photography  

02—Soft Chorus, 2017
Linen, cotton, silk, thread and brass.
Dye colours drawn from Australian eucalyptus and acacia plants located in Parramatta Park, Western Sydney, and Scotch thistle from Goolma in the Central West of New South Wales.
180 x 120cm (irregular)
Photo: Document Photography  

03—Soft Chorus, 2017
Linen, cotton, silk, thread and brass.
Dye colours drawn from Australian eucalyptus and acacia plants located in Parramatta Park, Western Sydney, and Scotch thistle from Goolma in the Central West of New South Wales.
180 x 120cm (irregular)
Photo: Document Photography  

04—Soft Chorus, 2017
Linen, cotton, silk, thread and brass.
Dye colours drawn from Australian eucalyptus and acacia plants located in Parramatta Park, Western Sydney, and Scotch thistle from Goolma in the Central West of New South Wales.
180 x 120cm (irregular)
Photo: Document Photography    

05—This new past 2017
Pottery shard, uncovered by Glengarnock Archaeology Club.
Collection of the Museum of Ayrshire Country Life & Costume, Dalgarven Mill, U.K.
Unique digital print on velvet.
120 x 300cm
Printed in collaboration with the School of Textiles and Design, Heriot-Watt University.  

06—This new past 2017
Found ceramic, uncovered by Glengarnock Archaeology Club.
Collection of the Museum of Ayrshire Country Life & Costume, Dalgarven Mill, U.K.
Unique digital print on velvet.
120 x 300cm
Printed in collaboration with the School of Textiles and Design, Heriot-Watt University.