say it with knots is an open ended deep dive into knots

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Taking as a point of departure an idea I first encountered whilst reading one of my favourite Italian authors. It prompted me to embark on a journey dedicated to explore knotted ropes and their agency to convey meaning. A more focused creative and intellectual enquiry began in 2023.

What utterly captivated my imagination was what I first read about in this essay by Italo Calvino titled Say it with Knots (originally published in 1984). In it he describes an exhibition about knot making and his impressions of the artefacts there as a medium for communication. After a few years of search for and dedicated study of natural regenerative materials, foraging wild plant fibres lead me to learn string making, then rope making and eventually knot tying.

In 2025 (over 40 years after Calvino wrote about this in his essay) I began a yearlong artistic research and development funded by Arts Council’s DYCP grant to reanimate this ancient tactile craft and my aim is to become well-versed in the language of knots.

This journey still continues today in 2026.

I endeavour to create an engaging and urgent body of work in response to our current ecological times. I aim to awaken curiosity and evoke questions about interconnectedness.

I'm planning to make a new series of sculptural forms using wild foraged plant fibres. I choose to source my own art materials from the local environment to minimise my carbon footprint. The process of both gathering and making cordage is beautiful, versatile and yields evocative results.

The metaphors in language can offer insight into the diverse range of symbols, historical and cultural associations with strings and knots; the important role rope making technologies played in the development of civilisations.

I wish to juxtapose the natural history of the landscape where the raw materials I source come from with skilful techniques. The plant fibres are transformed into knotted rope sculptures.

I began exploring these ideas during my art residency in the winter of 2023, in Cromarty - a place that was shaped by its proximity to the sea - on the northern coast of the Scottish Highlands where a long history of shipping and fishing trades have been present for thousands of years.

Natural and human history intertwining in the landscape leaving visible traces in the overlapping cultures of times present and past.

The outcome of my work hopes to inspire and transport the viewer back in time - back to the beginning, where it all started by twisting together vegetal fibres into a piece of string. Also, looking ahead into the future, an invitation to imagine new possibilities in tactile dimensions in our increasingly digitised age.

the art residency in Cromarty culminated in my first solo exhibition where I had the opportunity to share the humble beginnings.

• The Old Brewery at Cromarty Arts Trust Cromarty, Scottish Highlands - Dec, 2023

How will we continue making meaning with our hands?

How can we create in reciprocity with the more-than-human world around us?