Alison Lochhead MRSS

Alison Lochhead reflects upon the memory of actions and experiences of people over time; such as war, conflicts, migrations, exploitation and oppression. The earth retains the marks made by humans and the memory of their presence and the injustices inflicted. Each person’s memory and experience is different and only parts remain, there is no ‘wholeness’, only fragments, but when different memories are pieced together they make a collective reflection and memory. Alison works with different materials, all integral from the earth and with their own strengths and reaction to heat and to each other. In the kiln alchemy takes place as the various materials are drawn together or reject each other, they are transformed. The reaction of the molten iron onto the ceramic, wood, and other materials is equally unknown. Memories are fragile and transitory; as is much of Alison’s work.