In August 2015, sound artist Joseph Young and ceramist Kay Aplin spent a month in residence at Scalloway Booth, exploring the islands and documenting the sights and sounds of the Shetland landscape. Every day, walking the landscape, Kay collected specimens she found growing underfoot. She used a digital microscope to capture the initial images, allowing her to view plants, or sections of plants, no bigger than a finger nail and to magnify them to larger-than-life scale; to enter inside the structure of the plant and to see what the human eye cannot see. The glaze palette was developed especially for this project, reflecting the colour palette of the plants collected.

Inspired by its bleak beauty, the artists collaborated in this work to represent the Shetland Islands in a unique way. The resulting exhibition, In A Shetland Landscape was at Shetland Museum and Archives April-June 2016. Joseph’s field recordings were collaged into an immersive, four-channel soundscape and Kay’s ceramics were mounted individually and in installation form.

This commission is a version of an installation Kay created for In A Shetland Landscape.

Client: Private Commission

Dimensions: 3m x 1.2m

Medium: Porcelain

Place: Brighton

Year: 2018