Boyle Family are perhaps best known for a series of works called ‘Journey to the Surface of the Earth’, in which they make exact replicas of randomly-selected portions of the earth’s surface. The ‘Skin Series’ is based on the same principal, mapping surfaces but on a microscopic scale. ‘Skin Series No.8’ is an image of a minute section of skin taken from the inside of Mark Boyle’s right elbow. Fourteen such works were made, each area being randomly chosen by throwing darts at a body chart. Each skin section was then frozen & removed. A negative image was taken, then enlarged and recorded on light sensitive paper. ‘Skin Series’ also relates to Boyle Family’s works of the 1960s which used bodily fluids.
The Boyle Family (Mark Boyle, Joan Hills, Sebastian Boyle, Georgina Boyle); Boyle Family (Scottish, Mark Boyle 1934 - 2005; Joan Hills b. 1931; Sebastian Boyle b. 1962; Georgia Boyle b. 1963)
Mark Boyle was born in Glasgow. During the 1960s he collaborated with his partner Joan Hills (born 1931) in making assemblages of junk and found objects, before moving on to produce replicas of sections of the earth. Their project 'Journey to the Surface of the Earth' was launched in 1968 - 69. After being blindfolded, they threw darts at a world map, in order to pinpoint 1,000 areas of the earth's surface to duplicate. On travelling to a selected site, the Boyles would throw a T-square in the air to select a random area to replicate. In the 1970s their two children (Sebastian, born 1962 and Georgia, born 1963) assisted in producing these works; together they operated under the name 'Boyle Family'.
