A new
Photography exhibition The Ties That
Bind by four of Scotland’s most acclaimed photographers is now at the
Scottish Portrait galleries – Colin
McPherson, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, Sophie Gerrard and Stephen McLaren. They pointed
their lenses over those defining, energised days of the Scottish Independence
Referendum. When for the first time Scotland questioned and had rich grassroots
debates on notions around identity, culture and what democracy and the union
means today.
In the 90s
English Scottish Arts director Timothy Clifford, planned to close the Scottish
Portrait galleries! There were protests and the galleries had a 17m
refurbishment in 2011. Thankfully. I visited the galleries then and I thought
it needed more of a contemporary Scottish artists feel to it. How wonderful then to see now in 2015 an
exhibit by four of Scotland's top photographers. I have met both Jeremy and
Colin at Edinburgh book festival photo shoots - and I send them my warmest
congratulations!.
Document Scotland, formed in 2012, is a collective of four
internationally acclaimed photographers dedicated to chronicling the social,
cultural and economic life in Scotland. These images create a compelling
dialogue about Scotland, its people, diversity and culture, and reveal the nuances
that shape a nation’s identity.
Legacy —
Scotland’s role in the slave trade and sugar plantations of Jamaica in the 18th
century;
Tradition — the
centuries-old celebration of Border towns in the Common Ridings festivals;
Engagement —
the devotion and commitment from football supporters in small towns and
communities across the country;
The Land —
focusing on contemporary farming through the experiences of six women.
* Since the vote the
establishment and others wish us all to move on now and accept British values -
whatever they are exactly? Has Scotland
a unique voice and if so how best can we be governed?
*Journalist and editor Kevin McKenna writes glowingly the
exhibition - "Since the birth of democracy in these
isles, Scotland has never been granted the opportunity to take stock of itself
as a nation: what she stands for; where she came from; in which direction she
is choosing to travel......" "They
describe communities and convey flavours of a Scotland that many of us either
do not know, have forgotten about or would rather ignore. Here, alongside the
unravelling of Scotland’s enthusiastic participation in the Jamaican slave
economy, we also find images of the Borders Common Ridings and the unchanged
ways of a community not very far from most of us but a planet away from our
experience. There are stark and
beautiful portrayals of three women who live among the ancient grass and stones
of Scotland’s wild places and fashion a subsistence in them. Closest to my
heart are the pictures of a fondly remembered and greatly admired former
colleague, Colin McPherson, who has conveyed the relentless faithfulness and
love of working people for their community football clubs at a time when
corporatism, greed and unearned riches mock such seemingly empty and redundant
values. To understand these values, these people and the communities in which
they yet prosper is to come to a fuller understanding of Scotland. "
"The campaign for independence
gave us a chance to pause and reflect on what Scotland means. Few of us took
that opportunity but these four artists did. What they captured was more
timeless and authentic than perhaps even independence itself."
'When Saturday Comes' by Colin McPherson. The title is from the magazine which has
commissioned him over the last 10 years to cover all aspects of football
culture both in Scotland and further afield. Colin has explored the game at all
levels from international fixtures and the Champions League to non-League and
grassroots football. His photos concentrate on lower-league football and look
at the rituals, sense of belonging and the commitment shown by supporters,
players and those charged with running the clubs from Berwick Rangers to
Fraserburgh.
'Unsullied and Untarnished' by Jeremy
Sutton-Hibbert focused
on the Scottish Borders area and its traditional summer festivals, known as the
Common Ridings. He visited various
sites, including Hawick, Selkirk and Jedburgh
made portraits of the riders and other attendees in traditional outfits.
The history and sense of community is kept alive, and explored traditions and
their legacy to modern society.
'A Sweet Forgetting', Stephen McLaren’s project, revolves around the involvement of
Scots in the sugar economy of Jamaica in the 18th and 19th centuries. McLaren spent a month in Jamaica looking for
the sites of plantations owned by seven Scotsmen, before coming back to
Scotland.
McLaren’s
photographs largely concentrate on the mansions and estates purchased with
money from the slave trade. Stephen has been a freelance photographer, writer,
and curator since 2005. Before then he was a television producer and director
working on documentaries for several UK channels. He is Scottish but now lives
in San Francisco.
'Drawn to the Land' by Sophie Gerrard. Her exploration of the contemporary Scottish landscape. Gerrard’s
photographs offer a glimpse into the lives of six women farmers in Argyll,
Perthshire, the Scottish Borders and the Isle of Mull, and how they shape, and
are shaped by, their landscapes. Women
farming increasing by almost 25% in the last 10 years. Through each of these
women’s compelling stories, “Drawn to the Land” presents an emotional response
to its rugged mountains and remote lochs and islands and a wider story of
Scotland’s national identity.
Kevin McKenna:
Scotland has found its voice ... the No camp can't put this genie back in the
bottle
Another quality
article by one of Scotland's top writers Kevin McKenna on a new Photography
exhibition The Ties That Bind. QUOTE - "
Healey it was who, in an interview with Mandy Rhodes, editor of Holyrood
Magazine, laughed at how the British Labour Party had acquiesced with Margaret
Thatcher and her Tories in concealing from Scots the true extent of the oil and
gas revenues that had been taken from the North Sea.
“I think we did
underplay the value of the oil to the country because of the threat of
nationalism but that was mainly down to Thatcher,” he said. “We didn’t actually
see the rewards from oil in my period in office because we were investing in
the infrastructure rather than getting the returns and really, Thatcher
wouldn’t have been able to carry out any of her policies that
additional five per cent on GDP from oil. Incredible good luck she had from that.”
