Alys Owen & Michella Perera 

Alys Owen and Michella Perera spent the duration of their residency developing their collaborative project Imago Hortorum that builds upon the horticultural setting of the space. Using the residency as an incubation period the artists cultivated a variety of plants, hand-made vessels, and short films responding to and exploring the role of plants in everyday culture, how we use and modify them, how we represent them, and the role of public gardens.

The project combined the distinct practices of the two artists: namely Owen’s interest in ecology and the natural environment and Perera’s interest in ethnography. Together they explored the practice of ethnobotany, the practice which serves to locate plants within their cultural context and people within their ecological context.

Michella Perera is a Sri Lankan born, Irish artist, currently based in Glasgow. In 2017, she graduated from Glasgow School of Art with an MFA. Perera holds a BA in Sculpture from Limerick School of Art and Design where she graduated with a graduate award from the National Sculpture Factory. Recent exhibitions include Temple bar, Dublin; Nyoiseau, France and Tactic Studios, Cork. Perera has been commissioned by the City of Limerick for public sculpture work and has participated in residencies both in Scotland and abroad.

Alys Owen (b. 1981 in Pwllheli, Wales) lives and works in Glasgow. Recent exhibitions include: Raoul Reynolds, Scotland Street School Museum, Glasgow International 2016 and Raoul Reynolds, La Belle Friche de Mai, Marseille 2016; The Clinic, The Albus building, Glasgow International (2016); The Clinic Summerhall, Edinburgh (2016); So It is, YAKA Collective, The Lauriston Arches, Glasgow (2014); Forecasting, Tehtaankatu, Gothenburg, Sweden (2014); Le Swimming, The Underground Car park, Glasgow International (2014) and 1913 The Rite of Spring, The Hidden Gardens Tramway, Glasgow (2013).