BAN Research: British Landscapes

In September 2020, the Landscape Research Group put out an open call for artistic and creative responses to the theme of Landscape in Lockdown. “We were thrilled with the volume, range and quality of the proposals and were particularly impressed by two submissions that we felt captured the essence of lockdown – showcasing resilience, imagination and new ways of engaging with the landscape from our lockdown worlds.” – Helen Record, Curatorial Assistant, Royal Academy.

The two successful proposals were:

Siobhan McLaughlin, artist and freelance curator based in Glasgow. Siobhan’s practice sits between abstracted landscape and an expanded form of painting. In her commission she responds to ‘Landscape in Lockdown’ with a contemplative film of her painting Glen Muick.

Aiming to counteract the lack of physical connection in lockdown, Siobhan captured a more intimate experience of landscape, closely filming the drawn and sewn lines of her canvases in a dreamscape-like installation. Filming this way evokes the textures and tangibility of the landscape in a more immersive way than photography. Another aspect of this film is the intention of slowing down, appreciating what’s around us. The audio of gently echoing footsteps transports the viewer to the hillside, and there is a feeling of growing proximity of the landscape and more freedom as lockdown comes closer to ending. The film cuts to hills just outside of Glasgow, and as the camera pans round we see the paintings unraveled from the installation, celebrated in the landscape.

Kate Banner, writer and curator at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum. Kate’s commission is a thought-piece article discussing the response of their team to the postponement of their spring 2020 exhibition Skyscape - a touring exhibition from the Ashmolean. Faced with the closure of the galleries and physical separation, Kate and her team formed a social media group through which they shared weekly creative responses to artworks from the exhibition.

The piece reflects on the strength drawn from developing a new working relationship and friendship with colleagues during lockdown. Skyscape charts our changing relationship with the sky, and how artistic representations have evolved to reflect this. The sense of distance and space in the artworks (which include works by Durer, Turner and Nash) was all the more poignant and meaningful given restrictions, and offered a means by which the group could feel connected despite their distance. They found a new enjoyment and comfort in the Worcestershire skylines we all share. The thought piece includes images of the some of the responses created by the team, including poems, artworks, photographs and reflections.

Sue Rickhuss, Painting in response to Rembrandt’s Three Trees, included in the Skyscapes exhibition.