Sculptor uses Moulin Huet pollution in Liverpool exhibit
POLLUTION collected from Moulin Huet travelled far to feature in a year-long public display on Liverpool Plinth.
Sculptor Gail Dooley collected litter from Guernsey and Merseyside tides to sculpt an entangled gannet for ‘Tidal Shame’, which demonstrates the dangers of humankind to natural life.
Liverpudlian spectators can see the gannet distraught as it tries to flee its fetters, mirroring the hopeless feeling toward overwhelming global marine pollution.
Having lived and worked in Guernsey for seven years from age 19, working at Le Chene Hotel, the Captain’s and for Rupert Wood, Gail returns every year if she can.
‘Guernsey feels like home, I love the island and have good friends there.’
Rubbish for the sculpture was collected on Moulin Huet on one day.
‘You couldn’t really see it until you started looking and then you find it’s everywhere.’
It was originally collected for ‘Albatross’, a 2009 exhibit in the former Mill Street gallery, describing the dangers of long-line fishing to albatrosses.
‘At the time I told my friend Dave Fuller about the piece I was working on and, unbeknown to me, he went away and wrote a track called Albi about a young albatross facing the perils of the world.’
The song, produced by Dave’s son Duncan, became integral to the sculpture and was part of the installation.
‘Not all of my work concerns conservation, but all of it reflects the importance of our fellow creatures. I try to give the sculptures personalities of their own and let them speak for themselves.’
She collected the Guernsey plastic with local driftwood artist Bernie Page.
‘Bernie and I collected three bags of rubbish. I used one in the display and took it back to England with the Albatross exhibit, which is currently shown in Sculpture Park, Farnham.’
The plastic was kept all this time.
‘Rediscovered in my workshop, I tried to pull it apart. But years of swirling around in the sea had completely meshed all the rubbish together. I imagined a creature entangled in it and eventually the idea of a trapped diving bird evolved.’
Responding to an open call to artists for the Liverpool Plinth just before lockdown, Gail was shocked to be chosen.
‘I needed more sea plastic and the Hightown Beach Cleaners in Liverpool thankfully got involved, collecting two bags of washed-up rubbish during lockdown.
‘They gathered loads of colourful plastic, which made the piece all the more eye-catching.’
The sculpture took a few months to complete two years ago.
‘I can only see the faults now, but it doesn’t matter – it’s about a depressing subject that I feel both passionate and hopeless about. We live on a beautiful planet and we are trashing it. Tidal Shame is my response to this.’
Originally from Nottingham, Gail moved from Guernsey to London where she lived for many years.
Now she lives in Yorkshire and works at the Sculpture Lounge Studios alongside 16 other artists.
‘Threads of Guernsey run through my entire life and I wouldn’t be the same person without it.’
n Visit gaildooley.co.uk/ for more information.
