My\u00a0recent focus\u00a0as an artist,\u00a0explores\u00a0the dynamic relationship between sea and land \u2013\u00a0\u2018South West by South\u2019\u00a0is the result of many visits to the Western Isles. Along the extent of the\u00a0liminal\u00a0shore the interplay of tidal currents and weather is complex and, from a human perspective, fickle, authoring dramatic, sometimes destructive, events. In \u2018South West by South\u2019 these are expressed through\u00a0a \u2018poetic cartography\u2019, in an installation of large-scale prints, vinyl wall drawings, audio recordings, and maps.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The dense interplay of sea, land, and light in the northwest of Scotland, and in particular the Western Isles has captivated me since childhood. I often imagined living there. Although I felt a deep attachment to the place and however much it inspired my practice, I came to realise that I would always be a tourist, a spectator, on the outside of an entrenched culture looking in. It was important to make connections.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u00a0listened to\u00a0<\/span>sea lore stories<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Tobar\u00a0an\u00a0Dualchais<\/span><\/a>\u00a0website, oral history interviews\u00a0recorded by fieldworkers from the<\/span>\u202fSchool of Scottish Studies Archives<\/span><\/a>. The stories were\u00a0hugely\u00a0powerful,\u00a0giving\u00a0first-hand accounts of the lore of these waters \u2013 including\u00a0<\/span>\u2018South West by South\u2019<\/span><\/i>, in which an apparition changes the course of a ship. This story was given by <\/span>Peter Morrison, North Uist, recorded by Gun Forslin<\/a> (SA1968.109.A3)<\/span><\/p>\n In another tale, a seer spies a full-rigged ship approaching from the direction of St Kilda, years before the vessel was wrecked on rocks between Heisker and North Uist – this story was also recorded by Gun Forslin, told to her by Angus MacKenzie (SA1968.110.A5)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The interviews held so much more than the words\u00a0they spoke. They\u00a0flooded me with intense and emotional visual imagery.\u00a0\u00a0In response to the stories, I\u00a0began\u00a0creating\u00a0large\u00a0drawings\u00a0on\u00a0a graphics tablet. The process became utterly meditative.\u00a0I drew until the stories of the sea came back to me, producing\u00a0hundreds, choosing\u00a0just a few. It would be impossible to replicate\u00a0any particular one, as I became lost in them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0(click on each image to open it fully)<\/span><\/p>\n Seer<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0,\u00a02021\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n An Lanntair May-July 2021\u00a0(\u00a0<\/span><\/b>photo\u00a0c. John MacLean)<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A<\/span>udio recordings<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of the stories were played in the gallery at a low volume, looping continuously.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Selected extracts from the stories were\u00a0made\u00a0into\u00a0a\u00a0booklet:\u00a0\u2018<\/span>A seer\u00a0saw a full rigged ship\u2019<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Through seeking permissions\u00a0to use the material,\u00a0and my visit to North\u00a0Uist\u00a0in 2019, I met\u00a0Catherine and Alastair Laing from North\u00a0Uist. Alastair\u2019s father Andrew Laing had given an account of the\u00a0<\/span>Van\u00a0Stabel<\/span><\/i>, a ship wrecked off the coast of\u00a0Heisker. Andrew\u2019s father in law, Donald John MacDonald, was stationed on\u00a0Heisker\u00a0as the Receiver of Wrecks c.1900. Catherine also showed me her daughter Mary\u2019s dissertation about\u00a0Heisker.<\/span>\u00a0 You can hear Andrew Laing’s recording with Donald Archie MacDonald on Tobar an Dualchais (SA1968.150.A7)<\/span><\/p>\n Catherine told me a story of a man she knew, who had stood out on the headland at\u00a0Tigh\u00a0a\u2019\u00a0Ghearraidh, North\u00a0Uist,\u00a0watching a ship floundering in the sleet and gales with her sails torn. The day we visited that same headland it was\u00a0very\u00a0stormy. We walked to the point where the man had watched from, and\u00a0the\u00a0vision\u00a0in his tale\u00a0came to me vividly.\u00a0It led me\u00a0to explore\u00a0shipwrecks, in\u00a0the theme of\u00a0<\/span>\u2018Lost Ships\u2019<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hundreds of ships were wrecked around the coasts of the western isles to the sea and weather, war, or navigational error.\u00a0I trawled through the maritime archaeological archives from\u202f<\/span>Canmore\u00a0mapping,<\/span><\/a>\u202fabsorbed by the detailed records of events: loss of life and cargo, weather conditions, accidents. The immense journeys some of these ships made a\u00a0hundred or so years ago, crossing oceans to other continents, and coming to grief on the Islands.\u00a0<\/span> Map for Lost Ships, 2021<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Poem for Lost Ships,\u00a0 2021\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n in gale force winds and snow showers<\/span><\/p>\n her sails torn and tattered<\/span><\/p>\n lying on her side<\/span><\/p>\n thumping heavily in six fathoms<\/span><\/p>\n at\u00a0Aird\u00a0an\u00a0Runair<\/span><\/p>\n north west of\u00a0Shilley<\/span><\/p>\n blown off course<\/span><\/p>\n back and forth<\/span><\/p>\n demasted<\/span><\/p>\n a severe westerly gale<\/span><\/p>\n ripped her sails<\/span><\/p>\n and drove her through<\/span><\/p>\n the sound of\u00a0Monach<\/span><\/p>\n to the sands of\u00a0Baleshare<\/span><\/p>\n in dense fog she struck<\/span><\/p>\n a sunken rock<\/span><\/p>\n and was holed on the\u00a0Uisgeir\u00a0reef<\/span><\/p>\n at daybreak a heavy sea breaking<\/span><\/p>\n all around them<\/span><\/p>\n struck heavily on a rock<\/span><\/p>\n in the sound of\u00a0Monach<\/span><\/p>\n during a gale in the night<\/span><\/p>\n a brocket washed ashore<\/span><\/p>\n at\u00a0Hanglum\u00a0Headland<\/span><\/p>\n with iron canons<\/span><\/p>\n struck by a huge wave<\/span><\/p>\n in rough weather off\u00a0Barra<\/span><\/p>\n St\u00a0Ilfonsado\u00a0sank in ten fathoms<\/span><\/p>\n off the Butt of Lewis<\/span><\/p>\n three casks of whisky<\/span><\/p>\n marked ‘Glasgow Distillery Company’<\/span><\/p>\n floated on<\/span><\/p>\n St Kilda was sighted<\/span><\/p>\n off the port bow<\/span><\/p>\n by 6:30 pm the light<\/span><\/p>\n at\u00a0Barra\u00a0Head<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ******<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thanks to\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Louise Scollay, from the SSSA who pursued permissions for the eight stories on my behalf.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dougie\u00a0MacDonald, for translation of the two Gaelic stories.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Gill Russell, 2021<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.gillrussell.co.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Images are copyright and used with kind permission. Please do not reproduce.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thanks so much to Gill, for sharing her process with us and letting us glimpse at how the recordings in SSSA have inspired and motivated her beautiful work.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n If you would like to tell us about a project which has been inspired by the work of the School of Scottish Studies. our recorded contributors or fieldworkers, we would be delighted to hear from you. Email us at scottish.studies.archives (AT) ed.ac.uk<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Response by Gill Russell, Artist Material from the archives of the \u202fSchool of Scottish Studies forms\u00a0a central part of\u00a0South West by South, An t-Eilean\u00a0Fada, The Long Island: A Poetic Cartography,\u202f\u00a0an exhibition of new work\u00a0I\u00a0created for\u00a0An Lanntair\u202fin Stornoway, and\u202fTaigh Chearsabhagh\u202fin … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/files\/2021\/08\/SEER3-vlr.jpg\")
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