Fonn’s Duthh- Land And Legacy

15 Jan 2007 in Heritage, Highland, Visual Arts & Crafts

Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, until 17 March 2007

Royal NMS Victoria brooch

FONN ‘S DUTHCHAS marks an important beginning in terms of future partnerships between the National Museums Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, National Libraries of Scotland, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery and Museum Nan Eilean.

With the current political emphasis on providing access to National Collections outside the central belt this national touring exhibition for Highland 2007 provides an encouraging platform for further development.

The “legacy” of this exhibition includes a printed catalogue by James Hunter, an online educational resource (www.fonnisduthchas.com ) and touring cases, 8 of which are to be left with Highland Region and 4 to the Western Isles.

In the current cultural climate it is a significant exhibition more for political reasons than for a vital examination of Highland culture and identity. Whilst the exhibition brings together a fascinating collection of iconic objects, many of which will have popular appeal, it is more tartan “renaissance” than “reconnaissance”.

It does not confront complex issues, offer challenging reinterpretation or provide the impetus for debate and discussion about contemporary Highland life. There is a wide range of artefacts and some artworks on display, divided into ten thematic sections.


More risk taken by the curators in terms of whole exhibition and a greater attempt to reinterpret iconic objects would actively challenge the local and international audience


Although I do understand the need for low lighting especially in relation to the display of artefacts such as manuscripts, many of the paintings are extremely poorly lit, and I hope that the overall problem of light in this upstairs part of the Museum/ Gallery is addressed in the hanging of future exhibitions.

Many of the labels throughout the exhibition are on dark ground, making them difficult to read, and the exhibition itself is extremely cramped in a space designated as a gallery. The cramped and awkward presentation of ‘Fonn ‘s Duthchas’ is strong testimony that the Highland capital still lacks a suitable building to fulfil both roles of Museum and Gallery adequately.

The exhibition contains objects from past and present, such as a “Highlands Against Pylons T-Shirt”, mountaineering boots from the first Scotswoman to climb Everest in 2000, Sir Henry Raeburn’s moving and beautiful portrait of fiddle player Neil Gow, Will Maclean’s mixed media assemblage “Bard Macintyre’s Box”, a Vivienne Westwood outfit in tartan, Napoleon’s copy of Ossian poems and Harris Tweed Nike trainers.

A combination of individual and national collection loans have assisted a broad range of artefacts however the overall effect did not satisfy me, despite my fascination with certain objects and works of art. The potential for deeper understanding and exploration is hinted at but not realised by the whole exhibition.

Norman MacCaig’s poem “A Man In Assynt” concludes the exhibition in what perhaps could have provided a potent starting point for a whole show:

“Who owns this land?
The man who bought it or
I who am possessed by it?”

Video interviews with Highland and Island residents gave wonderful insight into some of the myths and realities of life here which beg further exploration. Johnnie Grant, laird of the Rothiemurchus Estate, describes the land he cares for as “wild” in terms of its atmosphere but not in terms of landscape. It is in fact “an industrial site” and greatly altered by the human population.

Filmmaker Murray Grigor draws our attention to the Highland Archetype promoted by vaudeville performer Harry Lauder; “History is invented. We all interpret it”.

I have long waited for an exhibition that attempts to chart Highland mindscape rather than landscape, and I am still waiting. The most potent visual representation of this is through the eyes of a region’s artists, but it would seem a curatorial step too far for this exhibition, even in a year which is designed to focus specifically on Highland Culture.

The ‘Duthchas – Legacy’ smaller satellite show currently on display does attempt to address this, and due to its size can easily tour to other locations. A greater emphasis and resources directed towards this component of the exhibition would perhaps have provided the counterbalance to the main show, and greater impact in terms of examination of who and where we are.

Currently on display at the Eastgate Centre, Duthchas presents a series of board displays with the same thematic material contained in the main exhibition and a single case of contemporary artworks and objects from Highlands and Islands artists and makers.

A major touring exhibition of Contemporary Art and Craft would have complimented the heritage emphasis of the main exhibition and could have taken more risks in terms of interpretation of the subject matter.

The single case as part of Duthchas contains some well chosen examples of sculpture by Frances Pelly in stone and Rachel Higgins in metal; jewellery, kiltpins and silverwork by Allan Baille, Astrid Shearer, Lucy Woodley and Hazel Passmore; glass from Brodie Nairn and Nicky Burns, a Harris Tweed Banddean Bra and kilt-style shorts by designer Sandra Murray; sporrans by Jennifer Cantwell; a turned wooden urn by Angus Clyne, and contemporary objects such as Polish and other foreign language newspapers, with local press and Lifescan blood glucose monitoring kits.

More risk taken by the curators in terms of whole exhibition and a greater attempt to reinterpret iconic objects would actively challenge the local and international audience.

If one of the aims of Highland 2007 and Fonn ‘s Duthchas as an opening exhibition is to widen perception, then the exhibition does not go far enough to facilitate this. Human interaction, discussion and debate through related education and events are activities designated to the accompanying website whose education section tied to the national curriculum is distinctly lacking in imagination.

Fonn ‘s Duthchas is an important exhibition for the region in terms of access to much needed resources and national collections. However in terms of bringing many of these objects “home” ideologically and culturally, perhaps an exhibition from Highland-based curators would have gone further to represent the complex nature of contemporary life in the region in a challenging fusion of past, present and future.

Fonn ‘s Dutchas Touring Schedule is at the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery until March 17, then Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow (6 April – 10 June); National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh (29t June – 2 September); and Museum nan Eilean, Stornoway (21 September – 1 December)

© Georgina Coburn, 2007

Link

Fonn ’s Duthchas: Land & Legacy