I am a painter and conceptual artist. I paint landscape from an abstract viewpoint, seeking to express the natural and historic resonances which make up its special nature.

It is thrilling to realise there is so much common ground between artists from different cultures. As artists we share the same concerns and find inspiration in the same sources. My partner Elke and I both have concerns about the environment and its history of conflict which has left its mark on both our countries.

Though our work appears to be manifesting itself in quite different ways our themes of defence, war and reconciliation are the same. I live on the East Coast where historical evidence reveals a fear of invasion both from a human enemy and the sea.

My conceptual work addresses issues which confront us today. I reconstruct familiar objects to give them an arresting and thought-provoking new image. For example I have knitted the Bible page by page to form a hanging. The narrative still exists within the fabric of the piece whose binding is the stitches.

To celebrate the collaboration which has made this German/English exhibition possible, I plan to knit together a map of Euskirchen in Germany where our first exhibition takes place and one of the coastal area of East Anglia where I live.

Margaret Wyllie
Defenses Triptych
Oil on canvas, 2005


Elke Wessel
Zum Ausruhen verdammt
2003

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