To celebrate recent DJCAD graduate Lewis Deeney being selected for the Freelands Painting Prize & winning the James Guthrie Orchar Award, we thought it would be apt share his contribution to the River Deep Mountain High exhibition on the #DundeeUniCulture blog today. Lewis Deeney’s acrylic & water on board for the River Deep Mountain High exhibition includes, physically & symbolically, water from the Tay & the Ganges. The piece represents the connections between Dundee and India through water & their shared jute heritage.
The continual ephemerality of our connection by Lewis Deeney
Acrylic & water on board
“A river is never the same as it previously was, so how can we call it so? In constant flux, a river is simply our labelled interpretation of a continuous process; a moment captured in time. Water connects us, unites us. This work represents the connection of India and Dundee through water, encapsulated within the archetypal symbol of wholeness and connection: the mandala. The floral motifs of India’s rich spiritual heritage are obstructed by the concrete harshness of Dundee’s industrial past: symbolising the coalition of two vastly different cultures. Symbolically and physically, the work contains water from both the river Tay and the precious river Ganges, showing the ephemerality of this element, its universality and the spiritual significance placed upon it.”
Lewis Deeney is a visual artist based in Dundee and currently studying at DJCAD. He considers his work as a visual philosophy: engaging geometry to express thoughts and emotions beyond the boundaries of the language. Instagram: @lewisdeeney, www.lewisdeeney.co.uk. He was inspired by images of the jute industry in Dundee and India held in the University Archives.
River Deep Mountain High was an exhibition in the University’s Lamb Gallery to mark the Year of Coast and Water curated by Archive Services. Artists, designers and creative writers were invited to respond to the University’s rich archive, museum and rare book collections on the themes of rivers, seas, coasts and mountains. Original photographs, journals, plans, models and specimens relating to whaling, the River Tay, the natural world and mountaineering inspired jewellery, artwork, sculpture, poetry and much more.