Mortal Remains 1992

Bat series 1991

I'm fascinated by creatures that have an ambiguity about them, that change, or can operate between two worlds. This is true of the metamorphosing frog and also the large fruit bat within these images.

It's also called a flying fox, a rarity in that it's a mammal that can fly. I was drawn to it by the translucency of the paper-thin wing but also the human like nature of the arms, delicate and hairy. Designed for flight but now grounded, its death enables it to be observed and anchored down. This harmless (nectar, pollen and fruit eating) creature inspires such fear due to an Eastern European folkloric tradition and a Victorian gothic novel.

Endgame series 1991

This work utilizes both a 'snakes and ladders' board game and an old defunct chessboard. There's an element of tongue in cheek here with the use of snakes and lizards within these images and they take on the role of actors placed within a scenario.

Endgame was shown at the I.C.I Fox Talbot Awards at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford in 1992

Endgame ii was used on the cover of William Boyd's 'Killing Lizards' for the Penguin 60's in 1995.

The Binding 1991 - 1992

Pheasant series 1991

These images are part of a larger series 'The Binding', made between 1991 and 1992 in which differing species of dead birds were employed within the composition of the images.

A variety of birds (starling, jackdaw, blackcap, magpie) were used to evoke different emotions and sometimes, as in the Pheasant series, used to represent certain characters or protagonists, like actors on a stage. Initially I was drawn to the pheasants because of the way in which they were hung outside the butchers shop – male and female – strung together in a tortuous, sad knot. It must have been a relevant symbol to me at the time.

Traditions of still life are also referenced in the compositions. Stephanie Brown said when reviewing the work in 1992, "Chardin's paintings of dead game are recalled by these pheasants hung in a chipped gilt frame" ... "rather than being shocking, cynical or gleefully morbid, Tracey Holland's images are reverential and poignant, and ultimately have less in common with confrontational art than with traditional painting."

I use objects, paint, drawing, light, film and photography to create work. These are photographic and video installations, which over the past 20 years have been shown both in the UK and internationally. The work reflects a preoccupation with collecting and the associations which occur are serendipitous but with carefully controlled boundaries. Over the past 11 years I've chosen certain elements within folk tale and religious myth as reference points for new work. I often deal in objects that have an innate sense of history and the resulting images contain reflections of the naturalistic, but often these are out of place or askew. Combined with elements that embody a more personal iconography, the work is layered with place, time and history.

Charged Vessels and Infinite Bodies 2007 - 2009

'Charged Vessels & Infinite Bodies' is a body of photographic work completed between 2007 and 2009. The work grew out of a fascination with storm and lightning imagery and it’s associated myth. I was awarded a research residency at the Bakken Museum and Library of Electricity in Minneapolis in 2006 and my research time was split between books and artefacts. I looked at archaic texts that illustrated the journey of how science evolved out of the early alchemists investigations into identified substances and reactions. Writings of the 15th century by such people as Maxwell and Kircher marked the beginnings of scientific investigation into magnetism and associated substances, but still remained intertwined with magic, religion and mysticism.

In the resulting series 'Charged Vessels & Infinite Bodies', the projected images of Leyden jars (invented to store the electricity generated by early electrostatic machines) and vacuum flasks taken at the Museum are combined with those of galaxies and stars, and often another layer of dusty redundant spider-web, root or seed-head. The work references the vessel's historic content, the captured and usually invisible electric, and contrasts this with the symbolic importance of the inner space and energies of other 'sacred' enclosures such as the temple, a confessional box or a theatre stage, expectant of some sort of performance. Some of the images contain forms that traditionally conduct energy/power and refer to the age-old desire to connect to the heavens reflected in symbolic, sacred sights like the Ziggurat, and the Tower of Babel. I'm interested in these ritualistic spaces because like the Leyden Jars in this series, these spaces are where a transformative magic can occur, both to what's within them and the audience that bears witness to the event.