Mary Griffiths: Weather — Manchester Collective

Mary Griffiths has created a series of drawings in response to each of the four movements of Michael Gordon’s music piece ‘Weather’. Made of inscribed graphite on paper with meticulous application over many hours, the artworks hint at patterns, repetitions and overlapping musical phrases, testing the relationship between sound and image.

Supported by The Granada Foundation

MEET THE ARTIST

Mary Griffiths. Photography: Brandina Chisambo

How did your collaboration with Manchester Collective come about?

I first saw Manchester Collective perform at The White Hotel. I was really taken by the space, it felt like something from Manchester’s music scene in the 80s. When they put the callout for artistic responses to Michael Gordon’s ‘Weather’, it felt like a natural fit. I think people see the connection between my work and that of composers like Gordon, like Philip Glass. It is linear, layered and mathematical.

Tell us about the music and how you approached it.

I approached ‘Weather’, as I do all my projects, by making many drawings. I filled a notebook with jottings and annotations on the four movements of the piece. It was my way of deriving visual information from the music. I have no understanding of musical notation, but I knew that I would be able to find an architecture in the music.

Can you talk a little about your materials and process?

I work primarily with graphite. First, I apply graphite on paper, layer after layer, creating a smooth and shiny surface. I use a vigorous but uniform scribble to transfer the material to paper, which is then burnished with agate and polished with a cloth. I create detailed sketches in preparation, then I use an etching needle to cut into the graphite, creating the final drawing.

What does it mean for you to collaborate across art forms?

Because of the nature of my art, I am often brought into other artistic and scientific spheres, and I always find that I have excellent and energising conversations with other makers and scientists. Often, approaching a project can feel like a mathematical problem, with the drawing as the solution. Working with others creates a constellation, where we enter into each others’ worlds. Also, collaborations have practical constraints, which can be very fruitful. The ‘Weather’ project made me work to a strict deadline, and the four movements of the music necessitated four drawings. It is amazing what you can get done when you’re forced to press on and make the work.

Do you think about your audience when making work?

Drawing the viewer in is an essential part of my work. I create these dark drawings which are reflective; they literally implicate the viewer. For this project, time is an interesting factor. My drawings have a depth to them, which is part of their mirror-like nature, so while they are silent and still, there is movement back and forth within one single moment. The depth of Michael Gordon’s ‘Weather’ is temporal, travelling from left to right, from the beginning to the end.

What comes next?

I’m working on a set of drawings with scientists from Massachusetts Medical School, MIT and the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds which visualise chromosomal data from the human genome.

Interview by Lucy Holt