Pheonix Sitooterie

2.5m x 3.5m x 2.5m Galvanised steel sheeting, perspex, steel framework

This piece was made whilst on a residency at North Edinburgh Arts in 2015. The previous year, a perspex and steel greenhouse had been built by Vision Mechanics for an installation. Sadly, this was vandalized the following summer, and I was asked to rebuild it, using the original frame. The idea of creating a sort of shrine to outdoor memories was born whilst taking to people form the local area, some of whom remembered times when much of the now suburban Muirhouse had been farmland. I collected some of their stories, and those of contemporary schoolchildren’s memories of outdoor play, and etched them onto the surfaces of the steel. The main image is taken from the National Photographic Archive and shows potato harvesting farmhands.