Tracey Exton Art

I am an artist who works across a range of mediums including painting, printmaking, textiles, installation and sound. I mainly work intuitively. My research will inform my work. Working across mediums forms part of my research methodology and results in unexpected outcomes.

Endangered Languages Project

The Changing Landscape of Language – Endangered Languages  

 

The language landscape is rapidly changing.  In this work, I am exploring globally endangered languages and specifically Scottish Gaelic.  Language helps define who are.  When we lose a language, the loss is visceral.  When a language dies, we lose the associated cultures, ideas, opinions, stories and songs.  In essence we lose what makes societies unique.  In most indigenous societies people and language are strongly linked to the landscape they inhabit.  Gaelic offers a rich visual poetry of words to describe landform, water and colour. It offers subtle nuances that are lost in standard English.  Scottish Gaelic has over 100 words for hill or mountain and 73 to describe waves. With the loss of such a language we lose the intimate connection to the land.   

My installation consists of a 50mt printed ‘scroll’ of over 2500 languages on the UNESCO ‘at risk’ register, which are on-course to become extinct by the turn of the century.  The piece has been hand-printed on muslin, taking 100s of hours to complete.  The delicacy of the piece along with its volume emphasises the fragility of languages.  Accompanying this is a soundscape in Scottish Gaelic to localise the issue.   

The main body of this work is a three-dimensional, sculptural drawing. The ‘scroll’ defines its space and form. Tension and gravity transform the two-dimensional text into a three-dimensional sculpture. The distorted waves in the fabric emulate the rhythm of human communication and the hill forms of the landscape.

The ‘scroll’ at the centre of this exhibition can be relocated Internationally.  The artwork and soundscape will change to reflect local language crisis.

Of the 7000 languages used worldwide it is estimated that half are at risk. 

The work won a RSA Young Contemporaries award on its first viewing at the Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show.

It went on to be the feature installation piece at the Royal Society of Artists Graduate show in Edinburgh 2024 where it won the John Gillies Award.

Art work:

Save Me – Scroll of Endangered Languages

Details:

Handprinted on muslin

Dimensions:

90cm x 50mt

Artist Tracey Exton-McShane’s hand printed 50m muslin scroll Save ME! which lists 2500 languages predicted by UENSCO likely to reach extinction by the turn of the century.
Artist Tracey Exton-McShane’s hand printed 50m muslin scroll Save ME! which lists 2500 languages predicted by UENSCO likely to reach extinction by the turn of the century.
Artist Tracey Exton-McShane’s hand printed 50m muslin scroll Save ME! which lists 2500 languages predicted by UENSCO likely to reach extinction by the turn of the century.
Screenshot
Image from the RAS

Endangered Languages Installation at The Barony, East Kilbride

From Barony 2025 – Endangered Languages installation