KNOWING GROUND

KNOWING GROUND features a selection of work from two recent projects by local artist, Danielle Macleod, which draw upon local folklore to evoke new worlds and characters through sculpture and photography. Natural materials gathered from the landscapes from where these stories originate are used to create wearable sculptures, tying the figures to their stories in a physical and organic way.

Na Boireannaich is a collaborative project between artists Danielle Macleod and Alice Macmillan. The series of images shown explores themes of representation of Hebridean women in songs, stories and local history. The project reimagines the woman’s role in traditional tales and how she is represented, shining a light tales where the woman is the hero, the protagonist, a character with agency and complexity.

The Lewis Mermen is a series of three depictions of a mythical sea creature sighted in the seas around the Hebrides. These varying depictions demonstrate the shifting nature of oral folklore, with stories (and the creatures within) changing and evolving as they are passed from one to another.

Unchanged however are the landscapes and islands that bear and give place to these tales. This is the knowing ground.

Danielle Macleod is a mask maker and photographer based in the Isle of Lewis. Working on medium format film, her photography draws on traditional Hebridean culture, local stories and her upbringing there.
Having been based in Glasgow for a number of years before returning to the Lewis, Danielle’s photographs reconnect her with her home island in a new dimension, where landscapes become mystical and people become the keepers of mythology. She seeks to deepen our spiritual connections to the places we call home by re-imagining her own through the lens of living legends.