Heather and Ivan Morison have created three new works for Sheffield as part of a national touring project developed by Nigel Prince (UCE) and VIVID Birmingham. S1/Projects is one of six partners in this national touring project and has supported the development of new works for Sheffield.

Chinese Arboretum

Chinese Arboretum is a work in process, a collection of one hundred photographs of trees of merit documented using an old, second-hand medium format Chinese camera. The artists have selected two images from a series that is now half complete to be posted as billboard posters in industrial areas of Sheffield. To photograph the trees recorded so far, Heather & Ivan travelled thousands of miles across China during the summer and autumn of 2003. The species, and location of the trees in the images were collected via a series of interviews with amateur tree enthusiasts in China, the artists subsequently visited the examples referenced in the conversations to make the photographs.

Chinese Kite Flying

One sunny afternoon in July Heather and Ivan Morison flew twelve Chinese kites from the top of the hill in Meersbrook Park, Sheffield with Chinese families from the local area. The artists had invited people from the Sheffield Chinese Community Centre to re-enact a memory they had of flying kites with Chinese men in a park in Beijing. The fish, penguin, demon, octopus and rainbow kites, were photographed sailing high above the city and one image will be selected to be printed and distributed widely by mail this autumn.

Heather & Ivan Morrison Talk

Thurs 28 Oct, 7pm, S1 Artspace

Heather & Ivan Morison will present slides of projects with S1 in Sheffield and talk about other recent work. Heather & Ivan Morison observe, collect and record the things they come into contact with, embracing chance encounters and seeking out subjects which are on the edge of daily life.  Their work is at once a celebration and a reflection of simple pleasures and mirrors the passions, process and beauty of their subjects.  The artists take delight in revealing the essence of the mundane and its particularities and peculiarities.

Stories interweave and new narratives emerge where once there were none, fictions and inventions surface where readings were perhaps once absent. Their recent body of work is a collection of interviews, objects and recordings made during a period of travel and research. By magnifying the peripheries and minutiae the artists attempt to begin a personal quest to develop an understanding of a larger scheme.

The Chinese Arboretum billboards have been sponsored by JC Decaux. Special thanks to the Sheffield Chinese Community Centre.