Fiadh is Scottish Gaelic for deer, but it also references wildness. This is an experimental and evolving sculpture first presented in Sylva Caledonia exhibition at Summerhall (2015) subsequently at Caol Ruadh Sculpture Park. It is a deer exclosure model; a fence that protects the forest from the ravages of large deer herds promoted by hunting estates of Scotland. The work was inspired by the idea that a very large version of this sculpture/word fence could be placed over a recently harvested forest plantation, in a region heavy with deer. The full scale version of this work would have three forms, a social aesthetic form as the work is developed, a constructed material form while the fence is still visible and viable, then a living forest form. The first flush of tree growth would eventually outlast the fence itself, leaving the ancient name of the deer, spelled out in native trees and visible over centuries. Deer are essential to the forest, but in large numbers they constrain the forest. Decoys can be about desire and possession; here the cultural form is used to project an imaginative desire for a wild forest set free or perhaps simply as a focal point for a discourse about art and its relationship to human perception, meaning and value.
Collins and Goto Studio
Sculptural installation (2m x 9m x 1.5m)
Metal fencing, wooden posts, cowberry, bilberry, heather and bracken