The Black Dog: Crypt Residency November 2024 – Katie Marland

The Black Dog: Crypt Residency November 2024 – Katie Marland

Tuesday 26 – Saturday 30 November
Open 2-4pm: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Open 12-5pm: Friday, Saturday Private view Thursday 28 6-9pm  

“No matter ‘ow dark a night it is, you can allus see the Dog because ‘e’s so much blacker”  

In British folklore, the Black Dog acts as a revenant: resurfacing again and again throughout our history. The Dog appears in many forms, categorised by folklorist Theo Brown as: The Barguest, a shapeshifter, ominous and belligerent, often connected with burial-sites and churches; the Black Dog, a huge hound that does not change shape, often connected to the dead, be it as an omen of death or a spirit returning; and the calendrical Dog, appearing in conjunction with a date or season. The Black Dog appears on dark nights, at crossroads, in churchyards and in open fields. It is often hybrid: between monster and living dog, between our world and the spirit realm, between present and absent – disappearing suddenly into thin air, mist or fire. It either follows closely or defies our cartography, with some following a certain path each night, while others walk a path long forgotten, passing through our buildings and hedges with ease.  

This residency showcases a year of work investigating the Black Dog legend through practice, seeking to illustrate and reanimate the narratives that have come to repose in the archive. The work produced includes etchings and drawings informed by visits to Theo Brown’s archive, observational drawing from natural history collections, and on-site documentation at the source of the legends. The Crypt will house an exhibition of these pieces, while new work will be produced in response to the space.  

Katie Marland is a fine artist and illustrator based in Bristol. She holds a BA in Illustration from UAL and completed the Royal Drawing School’s Drawing Year in 2022. She is currently conducting a practice-led PhD studying British folklore, the Black Dog and the eerie at the University of Leeds. Her practice centres drawing and printmaking, with a focus on observational drawing as a key research method.  

@kmarlandart katiemarland.com