A few days of getting to know Marcus Coates through YouTube and writing about his work. I would like to go for a walk with him. Maybe we could take a wee dram and walk up to see the osprey nest together? We might be treated to a kestrel visit en-route. Such a walk would afford time for the chat of strangers about external human concerns. I could gauge his willingness to talk about his work. Although why else would we be talking?
I would like to know whether he trained with the Sacred Trust and how he felt about wearing a stag. He talks about how wearing an animal skin is a tool to imaginatively becoming that animal. There are many shamanic traditions around the world where inhabiting a non-human skin give spiritual power to the Shaman. However, it often follows the individual tracking and hunting the animal, testing his wits against the animal, thinking like the animal to corner it. Two individuals in a life and death struggle. The tussle giving both an intimate connection as they each use their skills and knowledge of their own body and the place to outrun the other. How does this equate to climbing inside the bleeding skin of a road killed Stag? The dead stag looked heavy. Did he not feel more like the pack ponies hunters use to bring prey back from the hillside? How important is his own visceral experience to the work? Marcus talks about his childhood imaginings feeding his work. An excited child doesn’t feel the cold when being a polar bear in the snow. Did he feel the damp weight of the stag?
As we walk there will also be silences. During these silences there will be a quality of shared experience of the place. What will we each choose to articulate of this to each other? I have walked these hills with so many people. Rarely has a visitor not reflected on the qualities of the place that speak to them. Surprisingly one of the least expressive visitors was a renowned Scottish architect who was coming to pitch for the work to design our house. He referred to other designers and architects to situate his design within a tradition. I am happy that we did not build his house. It had very little love for the lay of the land and the history. It was clever and erudite but had no soul. In fact, it referenced the ugly farm sheds that are thrown up with steel girders and corrugated iron rooves. I would not want to invite Marcus Coates into such a building for a cup of tea after our walk.
Or maybe we could walk around an inner city with eyes and ears for the non-human? Maybe we could walk around Dundee starting at the bus station at midnight. The mixture of young people with a drink on them and older folk with a skin full would elicit some interesting responses. He would be comfortable and confident. We could walk up the Perth Road dropping in at Mennie’s for an 80/- and a nip to keep us going before heading up through the Hawkhill with its skeletons of mills to multis and council estates around Balgay Park. With good planning it would be a full moon and we could turn to soak up its silvery reflections from the Tay. I would hope for some new insights regarding city living and communities living in poor quality housing. Could we talk about the spirit of Dundee; – the generations of bloody-minded women who have used sheer stubbornness and hard work to keep the children clothed and some pennies in a jar on the shelf for the landlord? How their very life force has defied exploitative mill owners and pot boiling men to bring up the kids and have some fun on the way. Does he think that the spirit of Dundee is very different to that of Liverpool? Dundee faces East and Liverpool, West. Is Liverpool more lyrical and Dundee more pragmatic as a result?
I will realise that the conversation has veered off into unintended territory, but it is too interesting to change course. Perhaps we are still walking at dawn as the birds start singing. I remember to ask him to say more about his comments that the dawn chorus for birds is akin to fighting and flirting talk. I ask him whether it could be argued that the singing in the city centre last night has any correlation to him and if so would he accept that singing of youths in their prime may have the function of challenge and attraction but is it not also a manifestation of the need of the being to sing – to be – to express? Is the impeteus to sing the same as the function? Is the impetus to sing directly conected to the intention and the impact? How exciting to explore these questions.
I am grateful for the chat. I realise that this is a privilege and a blessing to be able to talk to a thoughtful inspiring artist about work. I reflect that if we actually meet in a gallery, at an opening, I am unlikely to ask any questions and no conversation of any import will take place.
https://mapmagazine.co.uk/journey-lower-world
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