PATH[WAYS]
2004

Our second collaborative project, in 2004, found us working with the National Trust for Scotland at Culross Palace in Fife. Here we were given the opportunity to make work in two empty attic rooms, which was in place throughout the visitor season of April to September.

Taking our inspiration from materials used in the medieval garden of the Palace, and from the stories of the life of St Mungo, we made work that reflected our personal, intuitive response to the place and created an evocative response. The work related to notions of sanctuary and journeys.

In the first room we packed the empty fireplace with slate and made a large stack of slate in the centre of the room. Small panels of slate were engraved with words relating to the story of St Mungo, and set into gaps in the stonework of the walls where they were lit by candlelight. Slate is used in the garden to divide planting beds and as plant markers. The process of stacking and building with the slate was about laying down layers; layers can hide or reveal stories from the past.

In the second room we covered the entire floor with a thick bed of cockle shells. We installed hidden lights beneath the floor and a diffused light shone up through the shell floor. The shells were the same as those used to make the paths in the garden, and have an association as waymarkers for pilgrims. Visitors were encouraged to walk on the floor and as they did so the shells broke creating constant change.

There was a dark room and a light room. A transition from darkness to light, a journey, a story unfolding. A quiet meditative room and a room which could be loud or quiet as the visitor chooses.

We wanted to make something to fit, that looked as if it had always been there. By using familiar materials in unexpected ways we hoped to provide a “way-in” for the viewer, to trigger memories and associations.

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