The Lion and The Unicorn | Rachel Maclean
4 - 14 July 2012
The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town.
Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
and drummed them out of town.
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town.
Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
and drummed them out of town.
My mother is a Scott. Much of what I know of the place has been filtered down through stories told by her, my Nanna, my aunties and my dearly deceased Great Uncle Willie. Apparently, we’re descendants of the MacAuley clan. We have our own tartan. I’ve watched Braveheart at least twenty times.
The Scotland I know is an imagined place of ancient castles, lush green hills, cobblestone streets, wild oceans, mist, roguish men and tartan patterned threads. For me it is a place of romance, mystery and great national pride. Everything I know about Scotland is second hand. The stories are filtered through reflections of an ideal past - romantic memories of childhood and a homeland from which my mother's family migrated. I have never visited Scotland and I don't know that I ever will.
So, it is with intrigue and wonderment that I look upon the work of Rachel Maclean. I came across her work in 2011 whilst completing a residency at the Banff Centre of the Arts in Canada. Rachel was there for six months with the support of a Creative Scotland grant and her studio was positioned next to mine. Even though I understood only half of what she said (she has a brogue tongue!), I knew she was a person of great wit and intellect. My hunch was confirmed when I viewed her work for the first time.
Maclean was recently named one of eight artists to watch for at Glasgow International 2012. A graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art, she works predominantly in digital composite video and uses the moving image in the context of installation and sculpture. Her work embraces a range of aesthetics including Poundland (akin to the Two Dollar Shop), YouTube, manga and the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. She describes her digital composites as “hyper-glowing, artificially saturated visions that are both nauseatingly positive and cheerfully grotesque.” Amazingly, Maclean is the only actor in her elaborate performances. She seamlessly weaves together a cast of characters through her masterful use of exquisitely detailed costumes and theatrical make up created by her own hand.
In the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, Maclean examines the relationship between England and Scotland in a new film, The Lion and the Unicorn (2012). Although much more refined here, the subject is not new territory for the artist. The complexity of the Scottish identity and its colourful history is explored in two other films, Tae Think Again (2008) and Tale as Old as Time (2009).
Scotland the Brave?
What is Scotland? Indeed, what constitutes a Scott? Tae Think Again and Tale as Old as Time both attempt to answer this question, albeit somewhat maniacally. These works explore perception versus reality and fiction versus fact using nationalistic symbols and imagery caked onto bodies and weaved into costumes set within complex tableaux. They explore national identity as a complicated web made up of not only history and mythology, but also pop culture, globalism and politics.
These videos take us into a world of cut-ups, mashed-up MTV style editing, YouTube quality pixelation and lurid clashes of saturated colour and digitalised sound. In Tae Think Again, Scotland is personified as a narcissistic blue-faced queen who is obsessed with all the trappings of celebrity culture and capitalist symbols of success (feasting, parties, sex, production and consumption). The blue Queen resides over her digitised, synthesised kingdom of factory workers, wailing dolls and the cast of Sex and the City. War is declared by a gang of bad-toothed highland warriors who battle to the score of Scotland the Brave. The Queen is beheaded in the uprising and her severed head rests passively on a platter surrounded by her dolls. Both she and her dolls ascend into the sky as angels.
In Tale as Old as Time, we witness the obsessive love of a national legend, which is a foundation of the superficial Scottish identity that many believe and hold in favourable regard. The film tells a story of Beauty and the Beast through the myth of the Loch Ness Monster. The artist creates a space that confuses the relationship between science and superstition set against the sappy sounds of Celine Dion and the fantasy world of Super Mario, Second Life and Braveheart. The video is a playful exploration of the fairy tale for the YouTube generation that reveals how easily we fall for the absurdity of myths.
The Lion and the Unicorn
In 1603, King James VI placed a lion, representing England, upon the left of the arms and a unicorn, representing Scotland, upon the right in a gesture of unity. A potent symbol, both animals had long been considered both enemies and kings of beasts, with the Unicorn ruling through harmony and the Lion through might. Both countries support the royal coat of arms, but like the nursery rhyme which began this essay, is the union really one of equilibrium?
In contrast to her previous films on Scotland, The Lion and the Unicorn is subdued in both colour and tone while still containing elements of the grotesque and sinister. The film explores the relationship between two nations through the personification of the Lion and the Unicorn - the heraldic symbols of the United Kingdom. Their cordial relations belay the underlying tensions that are revealed as the political story plays out. Playing on its Victorian roots, each of the characters is dressed with a magnificent pompadour wig that is crowned by their symbolic animal head. The Lion is proud, arrogant and full of conceit. The Unicorn, dabbed in glitter, is foolhardy and naive as he greedily consumes his portion of the Union Jack.
The dialogue in Maclean's film is provided by Queen Elizabeth II; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron; Leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond and English journalist Jeremy Paxman. Maclean’s editing and the reconstruction of dialogue through her elaborate characterisation, prompts one to question the perception of a truly ‘united’ kingdom. While the Queen, poised and dignified, delivers her speech with all the air of a wise monarch, her kingdom, embodied by the Lion and the Unicorn, discusses the repercussions of the idea of an independent Scotland. The proposition is neither fanciful, nor unlikely, as the Scottish National Party, currently holding a majority in Scottish parliament, is planning a referendum on independence in 2014.
The Lion and the Unicorn discuss what would occur if Scotland were to become an independent state. What portion of the cake would it be entitled to? What portion of the debt? The Unicorn feasts, enjoying the hospitality of his host by gobbling up the cake and consuming big gulps of coagulated wine. The trust that the Unicorn grants to his ferocious host leads to his ultimate demise. The loud growl of an angry lion ends with a stabbed union jack cake and black oil seeping from the corner of Scotland's mouth.
National identity is neither fixed nor static, but is in a constant state of flux, influenced not only by what is produced, but also by what is consumed. Maclean forces us to question the perception of Scotland as a nation of tartan clad highlanders wielding their bagpipes through the glen. In turn, we are asked to question our own national identity. Australia is a nation heavily influenced by globalism, a complicit member of the capitalist throw away and digitised western world. Maclean shows us how easy it is to fall prey to our own myths and become blind to who or what we really are - complex hybrids that are difficult to pin down, inherently absurd and sometimes grotesque.
Michelle Knowles
Co-director | Current Projects
The Scotland I know is an imagined place of ancient castles, lush green hills, cobblestone streets, wild oceans, mist, roguish men and tartan patterned threads. For me it is a place of romance, mystery and great national pride. Everything I know about Scotland is second hand. The stories are filtered through reflections of an ideal past - romantic memories of childhood and a homeland from which my mother's family migrated. I have never visited Scotland and I don't know that I ever will.
So, it is with intrigue and wonderment that I look upon the work of Rachel Maclean. I came across her work in 2011 whilst completing a residency at the Banff Centre of the Arts in Canada. Rachel was there for six months with the support of a Creative Scotland grant and her studio was positioned next to mine. Even though I understood only half of what she said (she has a brogue tongue!), I knew she was a person of great wit and intellect. My hunch was confirmed when I viewed her work for the first time.
Maclean was recently named one of eight artists to watch for at Glasgow International 2012. A graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art, she works predominantly in digital composite video and uses the moving image in the context of installation and sculpture. Her work embraces a range of aesthetics including Poundland (akin to the Two Dollar Shop), YouTube, manga and the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. She describes her digital composites as “hyper-glowing, artificially saturated visions that are both nauseatingly positive and cheerfully grotesque.” Amazingly, Maclean is the only actor in her elaborate performances. She seamlessly weaves together a cast of characters through her masterful use of exquisitely detailed costumes and theatrical make up created by her own hand.
In the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, Maclean examines the relationship between England and Scotland in a new film, The Lion and the Unicorn (2012). Although much more refined here, the subject is not new territory for the artist. The complexity of the Scottish identity and its colourful history is explored in two other films, Tae Think Again (2008) and Tale as Old as Time (2009).
Scotland the Brave?
What is Scotland? Indeed, what constitutes a Scott? Tae Think Again and Tale as Old as Time both attempt to answer this question, albeit somewhat maniacally. These works explore perception versus reality and fiction versus fact using nationalistic symbols and imagery caked onto bodies and weaved into costumes set within complex tableaux. They explore national identity as a complicated web made up of not only history and mythology, but also pop culture, globalism and politics.
These videos take us into a world of cut-ups, mashed-up MTV style editing, YouTube quality pixelation and lurid clashes of saturated colour and digitalised sound. In Tae Think Again, Scotland is personified as a narcissistic blue-faced queen who is obsessed with all the trappings of celebrity culture and capitalist symbols of success (feasting, parties, sex, production and consumption). The blue Queen resides over her digitised, synthesised kingdom of factory workers, wailing dolls and the cast of Sex and the City. War is declared by a gang of bad-toothed highland warriors who battle to the score of Scotland the Brave. The Queen is beheaded in the uprising and her severed head rests passively on a platter surrounded by her dolls. Both she and her dolls ascend into the sky as angels.
In Tale as Old as Time, we witness the obsessive love of a national legend, which is a foundation of the superficial Scottish identity that many believe and hold in favourable regard. The film tells a story of Beauty and the Beast through the myth of the Loch Ness Monster. The artist creates a space that confuses the relationship between science and superstition set against the sappy sounds of Celine Dion and the fantasy world of Super Mario, Second Life and Braveheart. The video is a playful exploration of the fairy tale for the YouTube generation that reveals how easily we fall for the absurdity of myths.
The Lion and the Unicorn
In 1603, King James VI placed a lion, representing England, upon the left of the arms and a unicorn, representing Scotland, upon the right in a gesture of unity. A potent symbol, both animals had long been considered both enemies and kings of beasts, with the Unicorn ruling through harmony and the Lion through might. Both countries support the royal coat of arms, but like the nursery rhyme which began this essay, is the union really one of equilibrium?
In contrast to her previous films on Scotland, The Lion and the Unicorn is subdued in both colour and tone while still containing elements of the grotesque and sinister. The film explores the relationship between two nations through the personification of the Lion and the Unicorn - the heraldic symbols of the United Kingdom. Their cordial relations belay the underlying tensions that are revealed as the political story plays out. Playing on its Victorian roots, each of the characters is dressed with a magnificent pompadour wig that is crowned by their symbolic animal head. The Lion is proud, arrogant and full of conceit. The Unicorn, dabbed in glitter, is foolhardy and naive as he greedily consumes his portion of the Union Jack.
The dialogue in Maclean's film is provided by Queen Elizabeth II; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron; Leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond and English journalist Jeremy Paxman. Maclean’s editing and the reconstruction of dialogue through her elaborate characterisation, prompts one to question the perception of a truly ‘united’ kingdom. While the Queen, poised and dignified, delivers her speech with all the air of a wise monarch, her kingdom, embodied by the Lion and the Unicorn, discusses the repercussions of the idea of an independent Scotland. The proposition is neither fanciful, nor unlikely, as the Scottish National Party, currently holding a majority in Scottish parliament, is planning a referendum on independence in 2014.
The Lion and the Unicorn discuss what would occur if Scotland were to become an independent state. What portion of the cake would it be entitled to? What portion of the debt? The Unicorn feasts, enjoying the hospitality of his host by gobbling up the cake and consuming big gulps of coagulated wine. The trust that the Unicorn grants to his ferocious host leads to his ultimate demise. The loud growl of an angry lion ends with a stabbed union jack cake and black oil seeping from the corner of Scotland's mouth.
National identity is neither fixed nor static, but is in a constant state of flux, influenced not only by what is produced, but also by what is consumed. Maclean forces us to question the perception of Scotland as a nation of tartan clad highlanders wielding their bagpipes through the glen. In turn, we are asked to question our own national identity. Australia is a nation heavily influenced by globalism, a complicit member of the capitalist throw away and digitised western world. Maclean shows us how easy it is to fall prey to our own myths and become blind to who or what we really are - complex hybrids that are difficult to pin down, inherently absurd and sometimes grotesque.
Michelle Knowles
Co-director | Current Projects