Homeland 2009

In 2006 we spent two months on an artists' residency at Sculpture Space in Utica, New York. The work we made there included a unique handmade wallpaper which we named Homeland. In making it we combined traditional skills with the latest digital printing technology. The wallpaper features old keys that we collected in Utica, and images of some of the buildings in the town that had a particular resonance for us. In November 2007 as part of an exhibition entitled Survey (Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh) we created an installation which featured the wallpaper. During the course of the exhibition we invited members of the public to respond to the work with suggestions about what we could incorporate into a new wallpaper for Edinburgh. The resulting work again features keys, this time beautiful old latch keys which were used to give access to the main doors of tenement blocks in the City of Edinburgh. The six individual latch keys on display have been cast from the originals in hallmarked silver. The buildings we chose to hand stamp on the wallpaper are existing tenement blocks in Edinburgh. Written on the wall of the installation are some of the suggestions and comments made by visitors to the Survey exhibition.