GROWTH 1
We commonly think of the body as a unit; a finite form connected to an individual, with a recognised beginning and end. As society is rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become clear that the body is bigger than this. Sickness is not only about one body; it is also about the ways that bodies in the plural are impacted by disease, and the ways that our social structure is dictated by our materiality. Growth 1 is one of a series of drawings that examine the tension between structure and chaos, organic and mechanical, the body and the science and technology that is intended to manage, contain and protect it, on a scale that goes beyond the individual. The drawing is based on a still-life installation of strips of meat encroaching on a series of cuboid forms, creeping over and threatening to ultimately envelope them. Flesh in this image is an active force in contrast to the passivity of the manufactured objects that it overtakes, echoing the realisation brought home by COVID-19 that science and technology, while we rely on them for a way out of the pandemic, ultimately cannot control biology.
Madeline Mackay
Madeline Mackay is a Scottish visual artist based in Calgary, Canada, where she is an instructor in printmaking at Alberta University of the Arts. She holds an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Alberta, Canada, and a BA (hons) from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in the UK, Canada and internationally, and has received awards from institutions including the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Society of Painter- Printmakers. Her work is held in collections including Cork Printmakers, the UBCO Teaching Collection, University of Alberta Art Collections, SGCI Archives and the Royal Scottish Academy.