McKeown’s ‘broadly sculptural’ practice explores current socio-political issues in Scotland and the UK at large, interested in the multiplicity of belief systems present in the communities of Scotland’s deindustrialised central belt and exploring the factors which shape them.
The installation Parley challenges ideological preservation through sculpture composed entirely of culturally significant imagery, objects, text and materials, to bring together past, present, opposing realities allowing the art itself to become a means of navigating an increasingly turbulent socio-political landscape in the present.
With rising sentiments of individualism and nationalism, this body of work aims to counter narratives of division by existing as the record of an active dialogue and collaborative creative engagement with mining communities in West Lothian, re-engaging and celebrating histories of collective resistance and social justice in times of sustained economic crisis.
