Portfolios > Essays on Stone and Light: Works by The MacInnes Brothers

Essays on Stone and Light: Works by the MacInnes Brothers, is a collaborative project with my older brother who is an internationally celebrated expressive mosaic artist based in Scotland. My brother constructs abstract impressions using Scottish slate to illustrate scenes from childhood memory of the landscape where we grew up. His memory of the landscape is influenced by geology and archaeology. Different stimuli influenced my childhood experience. For the collaboration I created photographs that illustrate more literal memory associations. Through two art mediums, the project conveys unique autobiographical interpretations of the same place.

Circuitously, the project was motivated by my relationship with psychotherapy. Even though we were not close growing up, it was revealed during a hypnotherapy session that my older brother was my most influential male role model. My father was a wonderful parent but was not an Alpha male. I inherited that attribute from him. My fabulous mother had a more dominant personality. My brother inherited that characteristic from her. Given such genetic undercurrents, it makes complete sense that my brother’s influence was consequential to my development. Furthermore, my brother is introverted, and his art is abstract. I am an extrovert, and my photography is literal. Such contrasts contribute additional relevance to the collaboration.