Imago Vitalis translates loosely as ‘Living Image’ and is born from my love of taking objects from nature, often bird skulls, and then presenting them in a way that suggests something of the life that once animated them.
In all my works I hope to provoke the viewer to wonder anew at the natural world and the vast array of designs and intricacies that are found in every part of every living thing.
Finding the objects for my craft takes me throughout the Scottish countryside and along vast stretches of coastline. Just like many of the birds that feature in my works, I too am a scavenger, finding value among the debris that the tide brings to the shore.
Each specimen was once a living creature; each one perfectly adapted to fit its own ecological niche. Their world and life I describe as ‘other’ as it is so utterly different from our own. Yet, to the creature their world is as home to them as ours is to us.
Encapsulating the objects in resin serves to capture them, as if in a single moment, a living echo if you like, of the life it once lived.
Alongside a life long fascination with the birds themselves I also love to explore and play with different themes: combining natural & man made patterns, subverting natural camouflage, and expressing the relationship between natural and man made objects.
I am a life long nature lover and former Countryside Ranger. No creatures are ever harmed or disturbed for the purpose of my craft - all met a natural end in the wild.
Enjoy!
Graham McLean, St Andrews, Scotland
