Curated by Alastair and Fleur Mackie as part of Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens’ summer programme of artist-curated shows, AFTERIMAGE explores site-specific interventions through photography.
The exhibition brings together works that capture situational propositions – subtle actions that exist primarily through their photographic record. Each image reflects an artist’s engagement with circumstances – natural or constructed – through gentle interventions: recontextualising found elements or making quiet gestures that reframe space and invite new ways of seeing. The photographs function both as artworks and as evidence.
Here, Alastair and Fleur Mackie reflect on the making of group show:
What inspired the concept of AFTERIMAGE?
The idea for AFTERIMAGE comes from an interest in works that are circumstantial, site-responsive, and often impermanent, yet preserved through photographic record. We were thinking about what an artwork can leave behind – not just physically, but perceptually – the way a moment lingers in the mind’s eye. In this sense, the “afterimage” becomes both metaphor and method: the work itself may vanish, but the trace it leaves becomes the artwork.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and your work included in the show?
We are artists based in North Cornwall, and much of our practice is shaped by the coastal and rural environment we live in. Our work often begins with materials found in the landscape and involves acts of rearrangement. For AFTERIMAGE, we’ve included two photographic works from our ongoing Stacks series, which documents temporary sculptural assemblages made from deep-sea trawl floats gathered from the shoreline close to where we live. These stacks were built in situ, as temporary landmarks at the sites where they were found.
Can you share insights into how you brought together the artists featured?
Many of the artists we’ve included are people whose work we’ve followed for a long time – some we’ve exhibited with, some we’ve known from afar. What connects them isn’t so much a shared aesthetic, but a shared attentiveness: a way of working rooted in observation and a particular sensitivity to place. We were drawn to works that share certain qualities – a philosophy of gentle intervention, and an understanding that meaning can be found in the everyday. We wanted to create a conversation between different modes of making and seeing, across different spaces. What unites them is the use of photography as the primary form through which something site-specific is held.
How did the idea of “photographs as evidence” shape your curatorial vision for AFTERIMAGE?
For many of the works, the photograph is the only remaining trace of an event. But unlike traditional documentation, these images aren’t simply proof that something happened; they are the artwork. This blurs the boundary between performance, sculpture, and image-making. We were interested in how the camera can hold a space open – how it can extend the life of a moment beyond its material limits, and how it allows acts to reverberate in time, extending the work’s conceptual life beyond its physical form.
What drew you to explore site-specific interventions through photography specifically?
We’ve long been drawn to works that operate quietly within the world – that don’t announce themselves but invite discovery. Site-specific interventions, especially those that don’t leave a permanent mark, reveal a sensitivity that responds to place rather than imposing upon it. Photography, in turn, becomes the medium through which these relationships are preserved and shared – a bridge between the private moment of making and the public moment of viewing. It offers a particular kind of intimacy, allowing something deeply personal to be felt by others.
Does the exhibition engage with the natural surroundings of Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens in any way?
Tremenheere’s landscape provides a rich context for these works because it’s already a space where art and nature exist in careful dialogue. The quiet, often fragile nature of the interventions we’ve gathered creates an interesting conversation with the garden’s more permanent sculptural installations. Tremenheere is a place with a strong identity, and while the exhibition takes place inside the gallery, the works feel grounded in the wider environment.
What do you hope visitors feel, remember, or carry with them after seeing the exhibition?
We hope people leave with a sense that meaning can be found in quiet things – in small gestures, overlooked materials, and fleeting moments. There’s a certain humility and humour in many of the works – a sense of working with what’s at hand, of paying attention. These practices reflect a romanticism – a belief that bearing witness has value. The works offer a slow, deliberate kind of engagement. If the exhibition leaves visitors more attuned to their surroundings, more curious, or even just a little more reflective, then it’s done its job.
Featured artists: Jack Whitefield · Amy and Oliver Thomas-Irvine · Oscar Santillan · David Rickard · Abigail Reynolds · Oliver Raymond-Barker · Tony Plant · Mike Perry · Katie Paterson · David Nash · Alastair and Fleur Mackie · Antti Laitinen · Jeremy Hutchison · Jasper Goodall · Matt Calderwood · Julie Brook
21st June – 2nd August 2025, Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Gallery handouts: About, Exhibition map, List of works
Image: Mike Perry
