Alastair MacLennan’s vision is profoundly humane. His subject matter is often grim – division and conflict being his principal themes, his persona while performing often appears equally sinister, though he conveys a deep sense of empathy, kindness and caring through obviously considered and precise movement. Throughout his practice each performance is directly related to the specific location and space rarely re staging the work.

Bled Edge was performed in a former prison as part of EDGE’88 – Britain’s first ‘Biennale of Experimental Art’. He typically takes with him a number of objects and materials. Bled Edge was performed in England though the work was inextricably linked to the conflict in Northern Ireland including flags and barbed wire as props.

BLED EDGE

When disaster strikes, do we wash the blood,
heal the victims, or polish the floor?
To heal we make WHOLE.

One tires of upstart assertion “double parking” as truth.

What lies beyond the world of artifice,
(yet manifests through it)?
Communicate from there.

Text from ‘Alastair MacLennan: Is No’, ed. Stephen Snoddy, 1988.