
Tamsin MacArthur
Duration
Tamsin MacArthur is a multi-media artist based in Glasgow and a recent graduate of Sculpture and Environmental art from the Glasgow School of Art. Her work explores dialogues between belief and the ‘actual’, and action and reaction, frequently working in response to spiritual and mythological ideas within the framework of an increasingly nihilistic western modernity.
Her work often begins site-specifically, anthropomorphising a place or thing and exploring the narratives and folk history. She’s fascinated by the role of meaning seeking as part of the human experience, and is increasingly interested in the importance of belief and hopefulness, naivety and optimism. Often referencing Candide the Optimist and Sisyphus as symbols of these ideas.
Her degree show work showed her going on a pilgrimage from Glasgow to the Holy Isles ‘Molaises Cave’ with a coracle on her back. In the film, she gets in the coracle for the first time on the shores of Lamlash, and in realising it won’t carry her across the sea, she says ‘a bit anti-climactic isn’t it’. She speaks about this and other related performances, saying, “ These acts are honourable but often don’t end in success. My work aims to capture this sense of trial and error in an earnest yet comical, hopefully, hopeless way.”
Following the recent and groundbreaking discovery that the Alter stone at Stonehenge derives from the North of Scotland, during this residency, Tamsin plans on exploring the idea of its journey down the length of the country, likening it to the Myth of Sisyphus, as well as the old Scottish tale of ‘the struggling spider’. She plans on building rafts which might carefully carry the weight of stones and rocks on Loch Long, and furthering research.
The Smith Residency is a residency for a visual artist and recent graduate (graduating from 2019 onwards) of either The Glasgow School of Art, Goldsmiths University of London, or University of the Arts London. We are grateful to Cove Park Patrons, the Smith family, for making this residency possible.