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PICTURES: Highland student's empathetic art explores social ‘freeze’ during Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic lockdown


By Philip Murray

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SNOWY vistas provided the perfect backdrop for an evocative work of performance art that was inspired by the deep freeze on social interactions during the Covid pandemic.

Julie Williams, an art student at Inverness College UHI, visited the frozen shores of Loch Morlich last month to produce 'Empathy' – a video performance piece showcasing flower-filled footprints in the deep snow.

Ideas of stepping into other people's shoes, hope and connection were among the images and concepts she hoped to explore and highlight during the piece.

She said: “I chose Loch Morlich because it’s very, very special to me. We’ve had a lot of family outings there and at the moment I can’t see my family and that upsets me.

"Prior to lockdown, my seven siblings and I often gathered socially with our friends at Loch Morlich. The frozen loch symbolised the freezing of social gatherings with its beauty representing hope as it thaws.

"'Empathy' documents the human response to another human’s suffering; offering a virtual hug to those who are traumatised for the many reasons related to the virus."

She added that the artwork represented several ideas, with the act of stepping meant to symbolise empathy by "stepping in and out of another person's shoes" as well as several other things, including the nurturing of mental wellbeing "through stepping, pausing, and balancing in challenging conditions".

The footprints themselves represented queueing for the likes of food banks and Covid testing among others, while flowers represented the love and caring offered by key workers, and the beauty of hope in nature and science.

The video's accompanying musical track, The Mayfly by Lisa Williams, aimed to highlight the "value of having gratitude for each day", the loss of those "taken too early due to the wide-reaching effects of Covid–19", and the "significance, peace and beauty of rivers and lochs".

The work was produced in collaboration with Highland-based film-maker Ben Hastings, of BRH Videos, and Inverness-born composer/songwriter Lisa Williams, who went to Charleston Academy and later graduated with a music degree at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Perth.

The work is part of a wider series of pieces, entitled 'Signs', which Julie Williams has been producing during her course at Inverness College UHI. The project has sought to repurpose icons and signs used during the current pandemic. For more information and a video about it visit www.theartfulj.com/signs2020


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