All Water Is Connected is a new public artwork by artist Grace Browne, which will be presented at The Hidden Gardens, Glasgow from 12 – 21 June. 

Commissioned to mark the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, this exhibition pays tribute to how new lands welcome us and our homelands remember us. 

We caught up with Grace to hear more about the making of these works. 

Tell us about you and your work.

I am a Nigerian British artist based in Glasgow. I am interested in creating portals that help me understand the memory and meaning of my foremother’s arts. My great-grandmothers last practised the Igbo and Idoma body and mural arts, uli and inale.

I love that these arts have a deep relationship with nature. Uli is said to have been a gift from the Earth Goddess, Ala, and they use natural materials. I work across mediums, including earth pigments, installation and film, to tell celebratory stories of re-membering relationships with nature, ancestry and the body.

I also host the African Women’s Art Podcast, which is all about celebrating our arts both on the continent and in the diaspora.

What excites you about working in the Gardens and how do you hope people will experience the artworks here?

I used to work in the Gardens and it’s a very special place to me. It is a place that welcomes people from all walks of life.

I hope people will take some time to experience the artworks slowly. They are invited to circle the artworks three times sun-wise and reflect on the themes of peace and protection. The bronze and earth create transient mappings which, during the exhibition, will be changed by the weather.

I would love people to feel the message of “All Water is Connected” the title of which was inspired by Abraham Verghese’s book “Covenant of Water”. Everything is connected; humans are 60% water after all. Right now the world can feel overwhelming, but I hope that the work and being in The Hidden Gardens provides a moment of peace. 

This project begins with a love of water. In your early research, you were photographing the reflections of weeds in the edges of a river. What was your initial curiosity?

There is an Igbo proverb “Uzu na-amaghi akpu ogene lee egbe anya n’odu” which means “the blacksmith who doesn’t know how to forge a metal gong should look at the tail of a kite.” I was having that scary moment at the start of a project where you don’t know what you’ll create. Thankfully, inspiration struck as I sat by a local pond, and I was able to rush back home and get my sketchbook.

Being by water is such a source of inspiration for me. I was really drawn to the delicate way the reeds touched the water and how their reflections change depending on where you stood. There is something intriguing about how where you are standing changes your understanding of what you are seeing.

The reeds inspired the bronze elements of the installation. There is something about their linear forms that reminds me of Uli, the body and mural arts my Igbo foremothers practised. Uli artists translate the essence of the world around them through lines and rhythm. 

Creating these works has seen you gathering materials in Iona and other locations. You have also researched ancestral travel and how journeys of migration have been mapped by different cultures over time. How does this come together in the exhibition?

The idea was sparked by a talk by Neema Githere at Glasgow School of Art Race, Rights and Sovereignty Programme. She talked about ancestral cartographies and it was eye opening to see the different ways people have mapped journeys across seas and lands. 

I became interested in sand maps, poem maps, chalk practices alongside African concepts of time. I’m fascinated by how they are all forms of communal knowledge transferred through movement.

Visiting Iona was a magical experience. I’m interested in Iona’s history; when people travelled by water, it was an important centre of pilgrimage and refuge, and people would come from afar.

I collected Iona greenstone, a 2700 million year old blend of serpentine and limestone. The stone has been carried as a protective talisman for seafaring journeys. I was also amazed to find cowrie shells on one of the beaches, which in both Iona and Igbo cultures are said to bring protection and good fortune. These will form part of the earth element of the installation.

Peace and protection are a connecting thread in the work. Iona is known as the island of peace, and the Hidden Gardens are dedicated to peace. And the white chalk used in the work is symbolically drawn on the ground in Igbo culture to welcome guests and signify peace. 

Grace Browne is a multidisciplinary artist based in Glasgow. Her fluid practice encompasses visual arts, film and socially engaged arts. Browne’s research-based practice roots in uli and inale, the ancient body and mural arts practiced by her Igbo and Idoma foremothers. 

Instagram: @gracebrowneartist

Photos: Grace Browne

Commissioned by Scottish Refugee Council in partnership with The Hidden Gardens. Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland. Special thanks to Glasgow Sculpture Studios.