Stack 5 by Alastair and Fleur Mackie MRSS on the sculpture terrace

Over the past two years, Alastair and Fleur Mackie MRSS have recovered deep-sea trawl floats washed ashore along a two-mile stretch of coastline where they live in North Cornwall. Lodged in caves and cliff crevices, these once functional objects are remnants of industrial fishing fleets that have travelled unknown distances across the world's oceans. Gathered over successive low tides, the floats were temporarily stacked on site and photographed. Stack 5 gives lasting form to one of these ephemeral arrangements.

Alastair and Fleur  are a British French-Cameroonian artist duo based in Cornwall. Working collaboratively, they create sculptural and photographic works rooted in the conditions of place and time. Their practice explores material histories and the interplay between ecology and human culture. They have exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, including at the Busan Museum of Modern Art and the Reykjavik Art Museum, and their work is held in public collections such as the Wellcome Collection, London, and The Eres Foundation, Munich.

Alastair and Fleur were in conversation (via Zoom) with Isabel de Vasconcellos independent curator and arts producer and you can watch the talk in our Vimeo Channel.

Courtesy of CLOSE Gallery