This installation unfolds from my journey through land, sea, and ancestral heritage, using materials and forms that connect personal history with broader narratives. At its centre is a 50-metre hemp rope, laid in straight rows, with some strands twisted and others left loose. This arrangement reflects the structured planting patterns of flax fields and my current studio explorations of weaving. Accompanying the rope are four black-painted steel rod sculptures with accents of gold paint and leaf, and a section of limestone from the Isle of Lismore, creating a coastal, almost beach-like scene that ties material heritage to ancestral memory.

The work is a culmination of recent residencies and research, beginning with my first Creative Scotland-funded trip across the Outer Hebrides to explore women’s heritage, starting on Lismore. Confronted by a lack of recorded information on women’s roles, I turned to the land itself for clues, where I encountered wild flax flowers. This discovery sparked my exploration of flax as a material, leading me to Silverburn Flax Mill, where I learned traditional cultivation and processing techniques. My recent Sail Britain residency also informs the piece; during this time, I experienced life aboard a sailboat, working with rope as part of a crew navigating Scotland’s coast. The physicality of hauling and handling rope is echoed in the installation’s layout, embodying both the collaborative demands of life at sea and my ancestors’ maritime heritage on Lismore, where they transported limestone and crops along the west coast.

Drawn to the warmth and richness of gold, perhaps as a reflection of flax’s “golden” hue, I use it here as a visual thread within the steel sculptures. These airy, minimal forms hint at the silences within recorded women’s histories, where so much remains unspoken or lost. The limestone piece, quarried on Lismore and essential to steel production, grounds the installation, evoking my matrilineal roots and Scotland’s geological history.

Together, these elements invite viewers to journey through stories of lineage and connection.