Cadal Cha Dèan Mi
Video and sound sculptural installation.
Julia’s brother, photojournalist and freediver Robin Taudevin, drowned at the age of 29 when freediving off the coast of Timor-Leste, an event which has been the catalyst for much of Julia's work since. In this installation Julia entwines Robin’s freediving footage with a soundscape inpsired by the traditional Gaelic song, and lullaby from their childhood, Cadal Cha Dèan Mi (I Cannot Sleep). The viewer experiences Cadal Cha Dèan Mi by placing their eyes into a free-diving mask which is enveloped in a torrent of cloth representing Na Fir Ghorma, also known as a Blue Man of the Minch or a Storm Kelpie. The work explores themes of the intergenerational trauma of loss to the sea that is inherent to being a Hebridean.
Cadal Cha Dèan Mi was first presented at WASPS Studios, Edinburgh as part of the Following Seas exhibition 2026.
