'VESSEL TO AN ACIENT MARINER'
The instillation was directly created in response to the story of the burniston body and other drowned and unidentified sailors of the storm in 1880. Drawing upon aspects of the story regarding the sympathetic burial given to the sailors, funeral traditions of time and maritime folk law, such as the use of horse shoes to protect the ship and bestow good luck upon the crew, I set out to create a body of work that would stand as a type of memorial to the lost identities of the deceased.
A large painterly piece was constructed of which inspiration was derived from the old maritime belief that sea birds possessed the souls of lost sailors. Inspiration was taken from the landscape in the use of collected materials such as sand and stones.
The second piece of the series came in the form of four canvas crosses that were charred and aged giving the pieces a more traditional aesthetic. The crosses were then hand printed with images of sailors from around the period the bodies were found as well as abstracted versions of artefacts related to maritime culture in that era. The crosses were then hung as a type of memorial to the lost identities and lit from underneath in an attempt to create a reflective and quite sombre atmosphere. The large painting was then hung centrally as a backdrop to the crosses.