Marly was born and raised in Dumfries and Galloway. She studied Fine Art BA (Hons) at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, graduating with a First in 2022 and winning the Alistair Smart Memorial Prize for Sculpture. She is currently based in Glasgow. In 2022/23, Marly was selected for Upland’s CREATE bursary through which she was funded to create a new body of work for Dumfries and Galloway’s artists open studio weekend Spring Fling. Her show was covered in The National and The Scotsman newspapers.
Marly uses wearable sculpture to create a space of uncertainty around our own lived reality, focusing on ideas of ‘otherness’ and questioning societal norms. She is interested in speculating about new worlds, cities and spaces to create physical artworks that provoke ideas around new and better ways in which to exist.
The Thestra project delves into geological history and the notion of a lost land that existed in the Iapetus Ocean, which closed 400 million years ago as continents moved. Thestra was separate from other civilizations and had the freedom to evolve its geology independently. Thestra remains part of the Earth’s landmass, but its location is unknown. The project aims to establish a human connection with this forgotten land by presenting an archive of fragmented replica pieces of Thestra, represented by the four wearable sculptures. The sculptures invite the audience to physically interact with this geological anomaly.
This project has been supported by a South of Scotland Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award, funded by Creative Scotland, Live Borders and Dumfries and Galloway Council.
