Brief:

This project is independent to our regular degree schedule and was encouraged in order to get us to try out the print facilities,  reflect on our identities and share cultures across the course. (There are still elements that are being refined.)

My response:

An exploration of my Orcadian heritage, the Island of Flotta in Orkney, that has been home to my family since at least the mid 1600s.

Flotta is just off Scapa Flow, a body of water that served as a harbour to the British Navy during both world wars. It was importantly the location for a mass German scuttling and many of my relatives have been involved in the war and in the retrieval of these ships. In modern times, Flotta became home to an oil terminal which has helped the island maintain a population and links to the mainland but with the future of oil finite, what lies ahead is more than uncertain.

Using silk screen and letterpress I have produced an exhibition of the Island: 4 prints and a poem accompanied by a cassette of compositions by my Great Grandfather. This serves as a time capsule for the 4 main stages in Flotta’s Life and an visualisation of the decreasing population.