Precarious

‘Precarious’ is part of a collaborative film called Watermarks, which is Walking the Land’s contribution to The University of The Highland and Island’s (UHI) Edge Conference. In September 2022, it was developed into Precarious Edge and shown as part of the Murky Waters film programme as part of Art Walk Porty.

I filmed it on Portobello Beach in 2021 in response to the alarming number of deaths of young guillemots who unusually massed along this part of the coast of Edinburgh. This piece is part of a larger body of work looking at the effects that climate change is having on the bird population of the UK. See, No Birds Land installation

‘Watermarks’ is a collective response to the UHI’s theme of Edge, and was made by a group of different artists from around the country who worked together collaboratively over a period of a year. My two minutes is a part of this whole. Here is the link to the whole assemblage / film with details of all the artists who made work and their links https://walkingtheland.org.uk/?page_id=147

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said that while the exact cause remained unknown, the climate crisis was exacerbating the factors that lead to falls in seabird populations.

Clea Skopeliti in The Guardian

The guillemot (RSPB site link)

Guardian article about the investigation into the deaths of these guillemots

Many thanks to Bea Parsons and my mum for watching and commenting on drafts, and to Richard and the team for compiling all the two-minutes into a great Watermarks film.

This film has since been expanded and reworked into Precarious Edge and was shown as part of the Murky Waters, Art Walk Porty short film evening in September 2022. MAP magazine reviewed it here