John Burnside & Will Maclean

A Catechism of the Laws of the Storms


Using woodcuts from 1882-3 issues of the weekly newspaper The Pictorial World, Will Maclean assembled a series of collages that he scanned and then digitally altered to create images relating to descriptions of storms and hurricanes. His references were nautical books and manuals in his own collection, in particular Henry Paddington’s The Law of Storms.

John Burnside then composed a series of twelve poems in response to those images and Maclean in turn altered images in response to the poems.

The final works are now available in a limited edition boxed set of 12 sheets, each showing the composite image and its connected poem, entitled A Catechism of the Laws of Storms.

Available now from Art First

View the individual sheets