How to Draw Trees Magbh McIntyre

Subverting mainstream oral history’s tendency to focus on the big events in life (birth, death, marriage and war), McIntrye's work How to Draw Trees sculpturally addresses the unheard, and commonplace tales of the lives of those around her. Starting with the premise ‘tell me a story’McIntyre's work sees her  take on the role of story teller, re-imaging tales from her own perspective with low-tech, reclaimed materials. Multiple, overlapping narratives  are forced into co-existence revealing both their content and structure. Like the uncontrollable unfolding of conversatition meandering, pacing, interrupted, McInytre's installation presents the multiplicity of story telling, recounting and interpretation.

"The stories I love come at their subject matter sideways. Full of ambiguity and complication these are stories of lives that resist homogenisation. I am interested in exploring the so-called minor details of people’s lives- the personal and incidental elements that are likely to be forgotten or considered insignificant. I seek to draw out the inherent life of objects and situations, revealing this as existing in endless variations beyond the limitations of dominant cultural narratives." - Magbh McIntyre 2008