The Rise and Fall of the Grey Mare's Tail

A jet of white water is forced skyward from a gravity-fed fountain placed downstream of a dramatic highland waterfall. Powered entirely by the immense natural energy of water, the intervention was developed to explore a number of related themes from debates on sustainability and energy use to questions of landscape identity and representation. The work refers back to eighteenth century Scotland when a radical shift occurred in the popular perception of Highland landscapes, transforming them from hostile wildernesses to be avoided to awe-inspiring destinations to be experienced. Artists were at the centre of this process, developing an essential romantic iconography of which dramatic waterfalls played a key role. The fountain too has long been a focal point for great landscaped gardens as a tool for taming, containing and re-presenting nature. In this way the fountain encourages a reconsideration of the very nature of nature. Commissioned for the inaugural Environmental Art Festival Festival Scotland, August - September 2013.