I love Scotland, I have always spent a great deal of time visiting various islands, hills, beaches, woodlands, and national parks and nothing really compares. As far as I am concerned Scotland is the most beautiful country on earth. This beauty is something that I think needs to be preserved for future generations. But because of pollution, deforestation, farming and fishing our countryside and seas are under threat. Conservation work, which helps to preserve land animals and vegetation, is relatively widespread and talked about often, whereas conserving our Scottish seas is not so well known. I want to use the medium of textiles to raise awareness of these hidden threats to our Scottish costal life. Although there is legislation in place to protect these eco systems, it only covers certain species or areas, and it is not enough.
Many people are not aware we have vast coral reefs just off of our coasts. Because they are cold-water corals they can grow with no sunlight in really deep waters. The reefs provide food and shelter for many other creatures on the sea bead and are thought to be breeding grounds as well. These reefs are under huge threat from deep-sea bottom trawling, which is an extremely destructive form of fishing. It used huge, weighted nets, dragging them along the seabed, crushing anything in their path. This form of fishing can destroy entire reefs in seconds, reefs that have taken thousands of years to grow. Destroying these reefs has a trickle down effect, leaving fish, invertebrates and other creatures with no shelter, meaning they find it hard to survive. The loss of these smaller creatures then goes on to threaten the survival of larger ones, and so on. Bottom trawling also poses a threat to may endangered species, which are caught in the net. Scottish waters are unique, and provide habitats to many creatures who can’t survive anywhere else, and it is so important that these species don’t become extinct.
I implore you to sign the petition urging the European parliament to ban bottom trawling in our seas; http://petition.protectourheritage.org/
Coral has been my main focus in terms of conservation until this point but I am now exploring other species facing extinction. I have been visiting various aquariums and also the D’Arcy Thomson museum to draw some corals among other invertebrates. The drawings I have done are not all of Scottish sea life. I have been working in mainly monochrome, looking at making motifs and creating pattern. My next step will be to move in to the print room to see how I can translate this work onto fabric. I am not entirely sure what direction my work with fabric will take but I am looking forward to doing some experimentation with dyes, printing and hopefully bringing in some kind of structural element.
In terms of research I intend to look into propaganda textiles, such as the London square, which was a type of graphic scarf worn by women during world war two, they were a symbol of female emancipation and gave a means or powerful expression to ordinary people.
Marigold 