DUNCAN McKELLAR
Mirror Works
The intensely powerful beauty of sunlight personally represents an ethereal force, the human spirit, hope, joy and life itself.
We all share the same light, the same warmth, the same star.
The universal nature of the sun gives it a unique potency as a symbol which is both awesome and sublime.
When combined with activism, this potency brings a serenity to politically charged events. The sun can literally shed light without bias or baggage.
Sunlight has no owner, spans borders, crosses oceans and is given free of charge without judgement or prejudice.
I hope that sunlight can provide a starting point to acknowledge other universal aspects of our shared existence.
Growing up in the U.K has nurtured within me a strong appreciation of the sun with little negative cultural influences from skin cancer warnings, droughts or forest fires.
A patch of sunlight on the wall of my childhood bedroom meant a day of adventure, a day of life as opposed to a day spent inside waiting for the rain to stop.
Optics
Childhood investigations into camera obscura, pinhole cameras and reflex mechanisms introduced me to mirrors and prisms. This began a lifelong, playful fascination with reflecting and projecting sunlight.
When combined with the power of the sun, the reflected light from a mirror is such that it can be seen over 50 miles away.
This simple combination of mirrors and sunlight enables huge images to be created across the landscape in light. This principle
has been utilised as a means of communication, navigation, ignition and mysticism for centuries.
Significant Pieces
I am in the process of developing this technique through a series of large-scale installations, interventions, gatherings and events. Where appropriate these artworks incorporate members of the public and often are activist in their nature.
Previous pieces involving mirrors and the public include an Artwork called Ray of Hope which involved a kilometre long line of people spanning the U.S/Mexican border. Each participant wore a mirrored mask which reflected the sun to create a 1000 metre line of dazzling light bisecting the border wall. This artwork was recorded by a drone and represents a show of community strength, unity and interdependency in the face of division.
Another significant mirror piece is called May Day and involved over 500 people with mirrors sending a symbolic SOS call across the English Channel to mainland Europe. (This piece took place on the 29th of March 2019 the day which Brexit was first meant to happen.) The event was located on the White Cliffs near Brighton, an area situated between Leave and Remain counties. Along with providing an outlet for residents to show their frustration and pain at leaving the E.U it provided an opportunity to present the alternative views of the 48% who’s voices have now been consigned to history and who’s message is no longer encouraged to be heard.
A third piece in this series called ONE involved an 80-metre circle of people with mirrors on the Northern Irish border in Killea Co. Donegal. This piece took place as a show of unity in the face of potential border disruption leading up to the second Brexit date. These issues unfortunately continue to this day.
Borders
Territories and borders have been a present theme in my life since growing up along Offa’s Dyke (the historic border between England and Wales.)
Being born in Wales to an English mother and New Zealander father alongside living in one country whilst going to school in another left me with a feeling of spanning borders, a feeling of being of both places and of neither.
Crossing over an invisible yet tangible border to go to school or the shops is a routine which although normal still feels unnatural.
Navigational lines, borders, and inner mapping of the landscape whether rural or urban, physical or psychological is ingrained in my viewpoint and routine.
This environmental awareness has also led me to appreciate and react to urban areas as if they were rural and to the countryside as if it were a city. I find equal vitality within natural or man-made infrastructure and view their differing energies (and waste products) as a constant source of inspiration.
Street Work
When working outdoors on site specific installations I aim towards playfulness by bringing members of the public together and including them within an artwork.
I attempt to break down personal space both physical and mental by creating a participatory experience and creating artworks which become embedded within people’s everyday life.
Working in urban environments I find particularly rewarding. I thrive in the ever-present reality and critique of public interaction.
Embedding a piece in the environment so that it becomes a part of the community is something I value greatly.
Installing pieces outside of the gallery space and subsequently leaving them exposed to interact with the world, puncture mundanity and confront conformity is something which interests me massively.
I hope to amplify humour and confusion, to put a smile on some people's faces and a frown on others.
I aim to pose questions about what is and can be considered an artwork.
I often utilise materials which are commonly found in the modern cityscape. Construction materials such as high visibility foam tubing and hazard tape are particularly prevalent in my work. I enjoy using these materials to create an overlap between utility and creativity and between familiarity and the surreal.
I see the outside world as the most challenging, natural and ancient space to exhibit and work.
Assemblage / Collage
When working in the studio I often create assemblages using materials found whilst walking.
I'm drawn to items which retain an essence of the location within which they were discovered. Items which hold their own narrative, a past life visible through a particular patina or decay. I am also drawn to objects which have an element of glamour, a link to an underworld, a seediness associated with urban nightlife.
I have collected found objects for over 30 years now. This process began in childhood with collecting stones, fossils and artifacts found in ploughed fields along the Welsh border.
Litter also had great impact on me as a child. In a rural environment a discarded crisp packet becomes something so obvious that it demands to be picked up. Occasionally this litter may be a handwritten note or train ticket which betrays the history of its previous owner and elevates it to become part of a collection in the studio.
The compulsion to pick up interesting artifacts may have origins in our shared hunter gatherer instincts to look for berries and nuts on the forest floor. It's treasure hunting on a small scale.
I also regard collecting found objects as a form of contemporary archaeology and/or social anthropology.
I receive a genuine thrill from finding a broken shard of metal, glass or plastic which holds it's own story, looks interesting and somehow begs me to pick it up.
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Over time, these objects form collections which can broadly be categorised into four types: Unique items, multiple items, talismanic treasures, or objects touched by a human hand.
Unique objects such as a beautful shard of glass, a twisted piece of metal or unusual stone are generally catagorised all together and stored on a large table in the studio. They could start to talk to each other and form a larger piece or become the starting point of a more complex assemblage
Handwritten notes, shopping lists or items which have been twisted or torn through nervous anxiety often hold a biographical echo of their past owner or place it was found they can be incorporated to form a narative in a piece or grouped to give a broader sense of society.
Multiple items such as arms of spectacles, beer bottle caps, cigarette lighters or destroyed credit cards take on further utility and importance when gathered in great numbers.
When amassed in quantity these items can become units from which larger objects can be made.
Quantity itself can also be a powerful reflection of the wastefulness of consumerist society.
Tallismanic objects or treasures could be archaeological artifacts, natural items found in places of importance or which resemble living things. They could also be intensely personal objects which act as a form of diary or memento mori.
These objects most commonly titillate my inner Magpie and be interesting for their patina, shine or sheer beauty. They can take any form or scale whilst incorporating a wide-range of materials.
The resulting assemblages which are created from these objects act as personal diary, social anthropological record, objects of curiosity and historic document of place. They also highlight societal waste and the potential creativity within recycling.