How to appreciate life through death

Isla MacLeod at The Meffan in Forfar on the eve of her exhibition which opened on Saturday and runs until March 16.

Published on 22/02/2013 06:00

THE LATEST exhibition at The Meffan in Forfar features the work of Isla MacLeod.

Entitled Samhain, it is based round Morrie Schwartz’s quotation “Learn how to die, and you learn how to live.”

This quotation is the core idea of Isla MacLeod’s research as an artist.

Her current practice explores the notion that by looking at death, and by coming to terms with our own mortality, we are forced to really appreciate life and live it now.

Isla seeks to question our conventional view of death and its associated rituals as something to be feared.

She feels our society rarely addresses death in a way that is natural. Current traditions are clinical; death is screened away and ignored.

By associating death with nature, and by using natural materials such as wood, Isla aims to alter the stereotypical view of death as something frightening or depressing.

Her installations allow elements of film, printmaking and sculpture to interact to explore these ideas in a reflective and meditative way.

Isla graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 2012.

She has won several awards and scholarships, including the Benni Esposito Drawing Award, The Carnegie Trust Undergraduate Vacation

Scholarship and the RSA John Kinross Scholarship to Florence.

Samhain runs from Saturday, February 16 until Saturday, March 16.

The exhibition is open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m, admission free.

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How to appreciate life through death

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