#document scotland

[sarahamyfishlock]

Delighted to announce that I'm the newest member of Document Scotland! Honoured to have been invited to be part of this brilliant collective, and looking forward to 2017!

[standrewsphotos-blog]

Document Scotland, a contemporary photographic collective which our Special Collections has had the privilege of supporting this past year did a blog post on our recent acquisition of their photography. Their work is a fantastic addition to the historic University of St Andrews Library Photographic Collection, and this acquisition marks our ongoing efforts to modernise the Collection!

[standrewsphotos-blog]

A Multimedia Salon event exploring contemporary and historic Scottish photography will be hosted by Document Scotland in partnership with the University of St Andrews Library Special Collections next Thursday the 13th of November.

  Admission is free. The event will take place at 7:30pm in the Special Collections Reading Room of the Martyrs Kirk Research Library located at 80 North Street, St Andrews.

[standrewsphotos-blog]

The Special Collections Division of the University of St Andrews Library is a proud sponsor of Document Scotland a photographic collective formed in 2012 by Colin McPherson, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, Sophie Gerrard and Stephen McLaren. Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow hosted an exhibition opening last night of their latest work as a lead up to the Scottish referendum.

As the Photographic Archivist at St Andrews, I was in attendance for the opening to show support for their ongoing efforts to capture perspectives on Scottish identity. Document Scotland’s work was juxtaposed to that of a similar Welsh photography collective A Fine Beginning which brought home the justification for the title of the exhibition, Common Ground.

The turnout was fantastic and a brief talk about the work was given by the staff of Street Level as well as by Stephen McLaren. The tenor of conversations throughout the evening naturally gravitated towards the Scottish referendum, and, quite rightly, their work inspired considerable dialogue! The exhibition, and more broadly their work, is poignant and timely.

This exhibition is part of the collective’s very busy summer schedule and follows on the coat tails of a successful exhibition by D.S. at Impressions Gallery in Bradford, several salon events across Scotland, with two more such salon evenings coming up in Edinburgh and St Andrews on the 12th and 13th of November respectively.

-MB

[standrewsphotos-blog]

Follow the link to learn more about the opeinging of Document Scotland's show at Impressions Photogarphy Gallery in Bradford

[standrewsphotos-blog]

The photographic collective, Document Scotland, with whom we are working in partnership with on their recent project to photograph aspects of Scottish culture as a lead up to the referendum, are hosting salon events to promote awareness of their work and the subjects they cover. Follow the link to see their schedule of events and stay tuned to find out when they are coming to St Andrews!

[2014frames]

Document Scotland - Scotland

www.documentscotland.com

Photographers:

Sophie Gerrard

 www.sophiegerrard.com 



Stephen McLaren
 www.stephenmclaren.co.uk

Colin McPherson www.colinmcpherson.com   


Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert www.jeremysuttonhibbert.com  


[sophiegerrard]

Why I Took This Picture.....

Oh it's been too long since the last post - I wonder if I'll ever be capable of making this a truly regular thing - I am not so sure. No excuses though, I have been busy on other things and neglected this blog - but here is a post from not so long ago which I put up on the Document Scotland blog. It explains a little about my newest and ongoing project - Drawn To The Land is the working title and it's about women and the Scottish landscape - here's the post... it's about an image of Mary.

Spring 2013 was one of the coldest on record – it almost never really came. Farmers all over Scotland were concerned and anxious that by mid April, there was still no sign of grass,  that’s pretty much unheard of. 15 foot snow drifts on Arran over Easter and -5 degrees recorded in Fort William added to the worry. It was an extremely testing time for farmers as they tried to look after sheep out on the hill giving birth into what should be warmer weather with fresh spring grass to feed on.

As I’ve started to spend more time in the Scottish landscape and take more photographs over the last year or so I’ve found myself drawn to stories of human relationships with the land and the emotional connections. The more I’ve started to engage with issues concerning our Scottish landscape – the more I’ve felt drawn to look at them through the eyes of women- purely because I think its something that’s not often represented. When you look to farming all over the world – women play a hugely important role – in Scotland the same applies.

Mary runs a farm in Perthshire which has been tenanted by her family since the early 1900s. Whilst spending time with her she talked passionately and emotionally about her relationship with the farm and the landscape. The day I made this picture we’d just finished spent going round the farm checking on the pregnant ewes. The ground was frozen solid, there was no fresh grass, Mary had fed everyone by hand and checked all were alright. We’d been blown about, got muddy and dirty, crossed swollen rivers, driven up into the snow for the high fields, and returned back to the house to warm up. I took this picture as we stood at her kitchen window looking over the farm….

“I see myself not as a landowner but as custodian of this beautiful place, I feel I have an moral obligation and responsibility to leave it as good if not better than it was when I came here. I never felt forced into farming. I was told it was here if I wanted it, it’s in my blood. I can’t imagine having done anything else and I think it’d be extremely difficult to do this work otherwise. It’s not an inviting industry for young women to enter into however and the average age of a farmer now is 58. The farm is the most important thing, it’s really the only thing as far as I’m concerned. I want to leave this place in a box, and I’m left with a dilemma now that neither of my daughters are interested in the farm. ”