Marcus documented attempts to submerge and lose himself in nature, to become the ‘other’. His work is embedded in a dialogue with ornithology, zoology, anthropology and philosophy – the studies of animal and human. At Grizedale Marcus explored his subjects by doing and imitating, by immersing himself in other modes of being and literally inhabiting their skin. In Sparrowhawk Bait he ran through the forest with dead birds attached to his hair. Tin the video Stoat he tries to gallop in a pair of stilts that mimic the footprints and stride of a stoat in the photograph ‘Self Portrait as a Goshawk’ he placed himself 40 feet up a Scotts pine, amongst the birds.

In the videos Dawn Chorus and Out of Season, Marcus explores the essence of Englishness, with a man verbally staking his territory in the forest through a series of renowned British football (hooligan) chants like ‘come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough’ and ‘I’m the Daddy now’. The sublime beauty of the forest and its birdsong are contrasted with the ugly sentiments and gestures of a football fan – like the football chants, the birdsong is aggressive, territorial and self-defining. The film was produced by Intermedia Film and Video for Channel Four.

Marcus’ billboard image Wild Animal at its Den illustrates Marcus himself naked, crouching and adorned in a pair of antlers, sitting next to a duvet shaped as a ‘den’ in a bedroom in the artists residency Summerhill. The work confronts the forest with a seemingly incongruous consumerist medium, appearing to be a face-off between human culture and nature.

David Shuttleworth in Limo Day video by Pope Guthrie Best and Poulter 1999/00

Contributor Profile

Marcus Coates