Magna Marina (2022). A contemporary play on the ‘Carta Marina,’ the late middle age marine map created in 1532 by the Swedish theologist and cartographer Olaus Magnus. In this animated work Leishman is interested in playing with the speculative freedom of the so-called ‘dark ages’ and how this resonates today in our post-truth, image saturated and polarized culture(s). The original map imperfectly charts Scandinavia, the North Sea and Scottish Coast, numerous sea beasts, alongside the real eddies and currents of the North Sea. Using Scottish-Nordic Insular Art and aesthetics of cartography as reference, Leishman has creatively reimagined the beauty and the imagined unknowns off the Aberdeenshire coast.

Co-commissioned by Aberdeen Performing Arts and New Media Scotland’s Alt-w Fund (Cycle 14) with investment from Creative Scotland. Screening 5th Sept - 31 Oct 2022.

Documentation and inspiration notes coming soon..

The sea is as near as we come to another world. North Sea Off Carnoustie (1977) by Anne Stevenson