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Anne Vibeke Mou

Drumossie Moor

2020

Glass composed with Scottish kelp ash and stone from the vicinity of Drumossie Moor, and contained in a bespoke box of Scots Pine (Pinus Sylvestris), combines the loss of an ancient Caledonian forest with contemporary debates on land custodianship.

Blown glass made with Scottish kelp ash and stone from the vicinity of Drumossie Moor in a bespoke box of Scots Pine (Pinus Sylvestris), 39 x 23 x 20 cm. Photograph by John McKenzie. Photograph by John McKenzie. Diamond point engraving on glass of the Drumossie Moor stone, 20 x 24 cm. Photograph by John McKenzie. Sample of kelp ash. Dimensions variable. Photograph by John McKenzie.

The sculpture draws on the talismanic 'Amen Glasses' of Jacobite resistance, which beautifully enjoin the cypher of a tear with the intimate nature of diamond point engraving, to fuse Place and Ideas in highly politicised objects. The socio-economic relationship between the Scottish kelp industry and the Highland Clearances following the failed Jacobite uprising, on Drumossie Moor at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, ties the raw material of glass making to historically charged debates. This sculpture embodies the enduring complexities of landscape and belonging.

Drumossie Moor, Culloden 2019. Photograph by Anne Vibeke Mou. Old Scots Pine growing in a fragment of Caledonian Forest, Cairngorms, Scotland, 2019. Photograph by Anne Vibeke Mou. Papa Stronsay, Orkney 2018. Photograph by Jon Bewley. Kelp kilns, Papa Stronsay, 2018. Photograph Anne Vibeke Mou. Kelp kilns, Papa Stronsay, 2018. Photograph Anne Vibeke Mou. Ghosts of kelp pits and kiln, Stronsay, 2018. Photograph by Anne Vibeke Mou. Ghosts of kelp pits and kiln, Stronsay, 2018. Photograph by Anne Vibeke Mou.


With thanks to National Glass Centre, Colin Rennie and Joseph Drew Woodworks.