Florence Maclennan is making a group of monumental works where past and future, myth and reality, dreams and premonitions can all exist in one place. She tries to hold it all, all at once. I try to evoke a feeling of not needing to say goodbye and not needing to say hello; you can be forever, just being.
The drawings shown here are part of a series of preparatory cartoons for a woven tapestry which will use imagery from the Welsh myth Beddgelert to explore Florence’s examination of her heritage alongside the anguish of personal loss.
In the story, a Welsh prince slays his beloved dog Gelert, mistakenly thinking him to have murdered the precious baby who had been left in his care. As Florence’s work develops, the Prince’s desperate realisation of his fatal mistake is held within emblems of Welsh culture which existed before and after, and the Welsh language provides a silent, questioning and deeply personal soundtrack which makes the moment and its participants immortal. The artist and her subjects all exist together now, in the drawings, allowing space for deep contemplation, for celebration and joy, as well as the shock of death.
