Based in remote rural South West Scotland, the duo’s collaborative practice investigates the complex, evolving relationships that exist between people, places, and ecologies. Their work frequently begins with a sense of place, exploring how layers of connection – historical, environmental, and social – shape both landscape and community.
Working across media and disciplines, Coleman & Hodges create projects that range from intimate participatory events to large-scale public artworks. They are particularly interested in how art operates beyond traditional gallery settings and how new ideas can resonate in public or communal spaces. Collaboration lies at the heart of their practice: they regularly work with other artists, scientists, food producers, and local communities to develop projects that foster shared reflection and dialogue. Each work is guided by context, with materials and methods emerging from the site itself.
Their ENTWINED residency took place during a transitional period of the Covid-19 pandemic, when community gatherings were still restricted. Responding sensitively to these circumstances, Coleman & Hodges devised creative ways to reconnect local residents and community groups. One of their central collaborations was with the Song Reivers Community Choir, who performed This is Home by Sophia Efthimiou outdoors at The Holly Bush Inn. To extend this sense of connection back to the heart of the village, the artists installed the song’s lyrics on the noticeboards outside Tarset Village Hall, revealing one line each day over a week. The evolving display reanimated the hall as a site of communal presence and memory, honouring the voices of the choir and the role of shared song in rural life.
Alongside this, Coleman & Hodges began developing a second work, Field Station: Here, which continued their exploration of place, observation, and human-environment relationships. This piece was later presented as part of the ENTWINED exhibition at Highgreen in September 2021.
Coleman & Hodges’ residency exemplified their ongoing inquiry into how art can nurture connection and resilience within rural communities. Through subtle acts of participation and poetic intervention, they reimagined the village hall not simply as a building, but as a living network of relationship, between people, place, and time.
