1 Fathom Deep
1 Fathom Deep considered diving birds, particularly loons and cormorants, their relationships of transit between water, land and sky, and the ways that we encounter them in those habitats. The project was funded by the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) and CAPMARK Europe young artists bursary awards, which enabled me to travel to Orkney to spend time researching and observing divers, especially Great Northen Divers and Red Throated Divers.
The resulting installation was 1 fathom deep (6 feet), denoting the 1 fathom deep space in which loons usually fish, and encorporated a resin and latex cast of a loon leg to demostrate the awkward, ungainly and vulnerable relationship the loon has on land, despite being a master in the water and air. This cast was made from a mould of Great Northen Diver bones currently kept at Norwich Castle Museum. Loon and cornorant calls were played through headphones. Calls are often the first contact people have with birds in the field, and participators were asked to write their phonetic interpretations - a demonstaration of how difficult it is for the field scientist to produce accurate phonetics for field guides (and an expliantion for their being differnt in almost every book).
1 Fathom Deep was first shown at the SWLA autumn show at The Mall Galleries, London, 2008, with an exhibition of accompanying drawings and paintings made in the field in Orkney. It was subsequently also shown as part of The Animal Gaze exhibition at London Metropolitan University, Whitechapel, curated by Rosemarie McGoldrick.
