Aura A was a solo show by Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion whose broad themes concern the natural environment and mans relationship with it. The work, which occupied both of the gallery spaces, comprised of four large-scale photographic prints and a video piece titled In the Open Sea.

The digital images are commanding images and consist of archive black and white photography from the turn of the century which capture disturbing moments in mankind’s quest for progress at the cost of the environment. These images are pared with contemporary colour-saturated photographs of the landscape in all its beauty and vigour. An image of deforestation is juxtaposed with an image of luminescent glacier ice. The immediacy of affect on the felled giant redwood clashes with the slow melting of the glacier ice. These images have a profound effect, strikingly beautiful whilst at the same time charting an unsettling journey through the century’s pursuit, in the name of modernisation, to control and shape the environment. Controlling, shaping and taming the natural world are themes explored further through the video work.

Dalziel and Scullion’s work explores complex issues and themes related with our existence within the enormity of the natural world. They tackle the big issues concerning life and the environment, global themes which spiritually affect us daily and which direct existence over millions of years - these are all issues to contemplate and question.

Collaborating since 1993, the artists have found ways of integrating their skills in different art forms and media. Perhaps one of their most recognisable and largest works The Horn can be seen on the M8 motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The 23 meter high horn shaped structure has become a landmark on this rather monotonous stretch of road.

The artists were appointed fellows at the National Museum of Film, Photography & Television in Bradford. They also exhibited ‘Aura A’ at Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre in North Uist. Previous work has been exhibited at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, and at the Venice Biennale. Their exhibitions ‘GENUS’ opened in September 2003 at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television and ‘Storm’ a commission for the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow ran in 2004.

A slideshow selection of images from the show and documentation of the exhibition in situ.