Nicola Turner: Time's Scythe

Time’s Scythe is a brand-new installation by British artist Nicola Turner that breathes new life into the 18th-century Chapel.

The installation was created inside the chapel using recycled wool and horsehair, which is hand-stitched inside mesh to create the work’s bulbous tendrils. Beginning outdoors, the work spills from the Chapel bell tower and enters through an upper window, before cascading over the balcony to fill the gallery space. The natural earthy smell of the wool creates a tactile, sensory experience as you walk around the flowing tentacles.

This is Turner’s first large-scale installation to use pale wool and creates a different energy to her dark sculptures, moving away from their more melancholic character.

Turner’s work often incorporates found historical objects. Time’s Scythe will use traditional sheep shears at the end of each tendril, reaching towards the altar like claws. They create a connection to the sheep at YSP, which have their fleeces shorn during spring in the nearby Shadow Stone Fold by Andy Goldsworthy, and links to local traditions of manufacturing and industry.