Confluence of North have been fortunate to be able to invite three artists, all living in what are considered remote location, to deliver a talk about their work. Due to the Pandemic our live events are cancelled and we now present their talks online and within our gallery exhibitions. We introduce Patricia Shone from the Isle of Skye, Paul Bloomer from Shetland and Mary Morrison from the Scottish Borders .
We have also been able to invite Cuban artist Yunior Aguiar Perdomo, now a first generation resident in Perth to create a project and video looking at the cultural diversity of Perth. His project Polaris establishes an analogy between personal ways of staying culturally connected and the Northern Star as a traditional navigation system that presents itself as a constant guide to those seeking to locate themselves during journeys through unfamiliar routes
I have been living on the Isle of Skye for 25 years and my work is informed and inspired by this powerful Northern landscape. Beneath the thin, eroding soils of the Highlands, lies the constant and immutable presence of rock, the form beneath the surface. These two elements of surface texture and form in my work are an expression of the journey towards understanding my place in life. My experience of living in this landscape is part of the continuity of human existence here and is deeply influenced by its Northern location and climate.
I was born in the heavily industrialized Black Country of England but have lived in Shetland for almost 25 years. Each of these very different areas have been a key influences in my work by forcing me to embrace paradox and seeming antithesis. Working through drawing, printmaking and painting I explore the threads and connections between culture, nature and spirituality, and specifically the complexity of the human condition alongside the peace and freedom of nature. I work almost entirely by instinct and emotion, letting imagery and narrative evolve as I wrestle with the formal elements of composition and the often-desperate search for visual truth.
Mary Morrison is based in the Scottish Borders, though originally from the Isle of Harris, and her work is concerned with landscape, mapping and identity.She is drawn to exploring space and light which is particular to the islands in the North West of Scotland and aims to evoke a sense of place through fluid paint effects combined with graphic elements of annotation. Grids, staves, elements of maps and abstract musical notation recur in her work. The sea is a constant theme in her work, and relates to an exploration of identity and geopoetics – the relationship between an individual and the landscape that has shaped them, something you carry with you – a ‘geography of the mind’. Her work suggests journeys, edges, tidal lines – always shifting.
The project Polaris has engaged with twenty individuals from the first-generation migrant community in Perth and recorded how they stay emotionally connected to their cultures also highlighting the culturally diverse landscape of the city.
The voices of these individuals, representatives of the Indian, Moldavian, Polish, Iraqi, Moroccan, Italian, Spanish, Syrian, Catalonian, Mali and Cuban cultures, provide a glimpse into the variety of cultures contained within the boundaries of the city of Perth. These groups have been for many years, and continue being, important contributors to the economic, social and cultural composition of the city, however they are not always visible to visitors, nor permanent residents.