‘east-west:west-east’

15 february until 2nd march 2019.

Artist Statement

The images have two cultural and geographical sources; the Moroccan High Atlas and Skye and the Cuillins, hence the title of the exhibition; East-West:West-East. I was only able to develop themes from Morocco via the support, inspiration and collaboration of Iyad Hayatleh – poet, Azim Rehmat Din and Jawdat Sabbagh – calligraphers.

The images derived from Skye have always been pervaded and prompted by the work of Sorley MacLean but lately I have also found the work of Meg Bateman to have had the same rootedness and love of the land.

‘Naomh – Saint’ by Meg Bateman from ‘An Leabhar Mòr’

‘Hallaig’ from the track, ‘Hallaig’ in ‘Bothy Culture’ by Martyn Bennett after Sorley MacLean

‘... Paradise, What price its moon without Blaven?’ taken from An t’ Eilean by Sorley MacLean from his 1985 collection ‘Reothairt is Contraigh’.

The images related to the Moroccan High Atlas and Djebel Sarhro are drawn from Rug of a Thousand Colours by Iyad Hayatleh and Tessa Ransford, poems inspired by the five pillars of Islam.

‘Taggort Prayer II’, ‘Prayer II’, ‘Prayer III’ come from the poem ‘Fifty’.

‘Rug of a Thousand Colours’ and ‘Here’ are taken from the poem ‘Salah (Prayer)’

‘Hajj’ is taken from the poem of that name.

Azim Rehmat Din was the calligrapher for; ‘Here’, ‘Taggort Prayer II’, ‘Prayer II’, ‘Prayer III’ and ‘Hajj’.

Jawdat Al Sabbagh was the calligrapher for, ‘Rug of a Thousand Colours’

Translations of words appearing on paintings

‘Naomh – Saint’ by Meg Bateman from ‘An Leabhar Mòr’

it was made by a pebble/ trapped in a hollow through the ages;

how it had rounded the basin/ at every high water/ grinding the rock down/ in the swirling brine. For now he had evidence of his patience and prescience/ and the magnitude of his mercy/ by which he constrained the ocean/ to safeguard healing water for his flock

Here

Here in the mosques of the land of frost

I met people who came from all over the world

Like a rug of a thousand colours

Taggort Prayer II, Prayer II and Prayer III

They are far however near I come

They are near however far I go;

They are enshrined in my being

Near or far, far is always

There - far away

Where the sky’s just a bow’s length from a sigh

Hajj

I travel into yesterday

Through the miracles, Alkhaleel and Gabriel,

The black stone descended from heaven.

Rug of a Thousand Colours

Rug of a Thousand Colours

Lewis Waugh

EAST-WEST:WEST-EAST opened to a packed audience at iota. We promised you art, poetry, calligraphy, Scottish & Arabic culture and VIPs. All duly delivered. A Meg Bateman poem was read in Gaelic, Iyad Hayatleh’s poem ‘50’, was read by the author in Arabic. The VIPs? Guests, Artists, Poets & Politicians.

Mixed media.

Previously exhibited at iota with Bill McQuarrie and Marion Barron:

'Restricted Code' Three artists working with a non-figurative language to explore themes from the urban and natural landscape.

From south-west Scotland, I now live and work in Edinburgh. I graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1972 and have worked in a variety of situations. Apart from my art, my abiding passions have always been for mountaineering and music. Climbing in particular has its own rhythms, sequences, minor movements overall momentum and direction. Only by resorting to abstract forms and the inherent quality of the materials I use, can I begin to convey a sense of that experience. In the main, the work in this exhibition was deeply influenced by the confluence of personal circumstances and of the Independence Referendum. Thus, it represents something of a new departure for me.