David Lemm

Changing Ideas Award
"Wireframe" is a mixed media assemblage from a body of work I began in 2023, informed by explorations of Findhorn beach. I was interested in the natural and synthetic structures encountered, considering the temporality of place, our increasingly precarious environment and wider narratives between human activity, materiality and the landscapes we inhabit and inherit.
During walks I was drawn to the eroding coastline, where I observed the sinuous natural grid of marram grass and tree roots protruding from the receding dunes. These also mirror skeletal steel reinforcements of crumbling concrete anti-tank blocks on the beach, remnants from WWII defenses. A piece of this is held in the assemblage, juxtaposed with drawn representations of the tangled rhizomes. The drawing is produced using charcoal found on the beach. Marram grass is of particular significance to the area, the over harvesting of which is thought to have caused shifting sands and massive sandstorms that led to the loss of original Port of Findhorn in the 17th century.
A plywood mesh frames the drawing and screen printed imagery of contemporary grass and decaying concrete block. This lattice is composed of forms derived from sea fastenings, geometric shapes used to hold cargo on ships. This relates to Findhorn’s past as a major seaport, and alludes to complex correlations between human activity and environment - where industry, international trade and anthropocentric impositions shape our daily experience and understanding of reality.
Sand from the beach is applied to the edges of the work, representing a more organic supporting substrate. This echoes the stratified coast and references further sand based narratives that have shaped contemporary Findhorn. The work aims to present the landscape as an entangled, dynamic network of designed and organic systems, playfully challenging notions of environment as a solid backdrop upon which human activity occurs.