Mar gum biodh an teine air do chraiceann (As if the fire were on your skin).

Commission by the University of Edinburgh, for the exhibition 'A Carrying Stream' 2023.

'This work is a reflection on what it means to live a rural existence - a life characterised by a deep bond with nature; an endless balancing act between appreciating its beauty and bounty, and sheltering from its ambivalent brutality. For most of human history this relationship was mediated by the campfire, the centre of this piece as it was the traditional centre of rural life. Warm by the fire, we were given the respite to reflect on our relationship with nature and each other, and from this all manner of prose, poetry, song, and comfort emerged. In Scotland where so much of our cultural output and history speaks to an embodiment of nature, one could argue that it was by the fire that we found our identity.

When populations are sparse and nature unforgiving, these bonds of community become vital for survival. But the fire also gave rise to something greater than survival - we started to dream. This piece invites the spectator to sit by the campfire and experience these dreams again. To feel that same reverence for nature embodied by our oral tradition, that our rural ancestors would have felt time and again, here in the warm glow of life itself.'.

(View Vimeo link for full list of credits.)