Alastair grew up in a farming community in the south of Cornwall, while Fleur’s childhood was split between Cameroon, France, and the UK. They met at art school in London in the late ’90s, and over time their work has evolved into a close collaboration. In 2011, they moved to North Cornwall, the landscape of which has played a central part in shaping their vocabulary.
Constructed from consciously sourced and carefully transformed, often site-specific objects, their works possess a cyclical quality; building a dialogue with the place they were found, sparking connections across time, and presenting commentary on the intersection of ecology and anthropology.
Stack 2, 2024 | Archival pigment print on cotton rag | 90 x 60 cm
Alastair Mackie has been an artist of the MKdW group exhibitions Empty Rooms (2016) and Pure Nature Art (2017) in the past. Both have exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally, including shows at the Busan Museum of Modern Art and the Reykjavik Art Museum. They have worked on a number of public commissions, and their work is held in collections including The ERES Foundation in Munich and the Wellcome Collection in London.
Photo: Alastair Mackie
During their week-long research residency on Föhr, Alastair and Fleur Mackie explored the island’s unique coastal environment in the Wadden Sea. Their work is strongly linked to the rugged, high-cliffed Atlantic coast of Cornwall, where they live. They are interested in learning about Föhr's contrasting landscape, shaped by glacial deposits from the last ice age, and how the island’s communities have adapted to a low-lying, soft-ground environment in constant flux. They are developing ideas from this experience and – as they told us – they look forward to sharing them with the museum.
Photo: Alastair Mackie