Harvesting Light
2021
Harvesting Light is a series of camera obscuras created by North Uist
based photographer and filmmaker Tara Drummie. Each camera was made exclusively from materials found on site,
embracing the environment as the medium to record itself. The work
is inspired by the rare machair prevalent on the Isle of North Uist,
where geology, climate and topography combined with low-intensity
human cultivation over millennia yield a fertile eco-system, attracting
a wide variety of wildlife. The works Bird Hide Camera, Horse Box
Camera and Sheep Shelter Camera reflect a collaboration between
the more-than-human assemblages of the machair and Drummie,
motivated by a symbiotic relationship with the land.
Bird Hide Camera
Bird Hide Camera comprised Lewisian Gneiss, two wooden
pallets, a lid to an insulated fish box, a tree trunk, a size 7 left
shoe, a size 9 right slider, a tyre, a car foot mat, fishing rope,
rotted plywood, seaweed and mud. A hole in a limpet shell
set in mud functioned as the aperture, projecting an image
of the surrounding machair onto the rotted plywood inside.
Horse Box Camera
Horse Box Camera was created utilising a horse box,
marine debris, rotten silage, cow dung and sand. A hole
in a calf’s feeding bottle cap functioned as the aperture,
projecting an image of the machair environment within
the horse box’s interior.
Sheep Shelter Camera
Sheep Shelter Camera consisted of a rusty diesel tank
that was being used as a sheep shelter, a steel gate,
rotted wood, nettle stems and mud. One corroded hole
in the diesel tank was left exposed to function as the
aperture, projecting an image of the external croft onto
the rusty internal wall.
‘I savour the experiential and intimate process of engaging
with each extraordinary environment, enjoying using my
hands to plaster the final light leaks up, with mud, sand, or
whatever will cling, then pausing as my eyes slowly adjust
to the freshly projected image.’