Our touring show for this year, A Contested Land, opens on 23rd April at Perth Museum and Art Gallery. The show will run until 23rd June, with talks about the exhibition and work by Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, Sophie Gerrard and Colin McPherson, on the evening of Thursday 9th May, 7pm. Perth Museum and Art Gallery,78 George […]
As part of the launch of A Contested Land, the first exhibition of which is currently on show at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, we are staging one of our popular salon evenings at Stills Gallery in Edinburgh. The event takes place on Thursday, 7th February and as well as presenting work from our […]
Document Scotland’s A Contested Land has now opened at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, England. The show runs until 16th March, 2019, before further showings in Scotland at Perth, Dunoon and Inverness. It gives us great pleasure to announce that our latest show, A Contested Land, successfully opened last week at the Martin Parr Foundation. Surrounded by friends, family, […]
Stephen McLaren talks about his new and ongoing work Edinburgh Unchained. After I finished taking photographs for my 2015 project, A Sweet Forgetting, which looked at how Scottish slave-owners made their fortunes in the production of sugar by thousands of enslaved Africans in 18th and 19th century Jamaica, I felt that there was some unfinished […]
In the lead up to our forthcoming exhibition A Contested Land opening at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol on 15th January 2019, each of the Document Scotland photographers gives an insight into their work, this week Sophie Gerrard talks about her new and ongoing work The Flows. As a young child, one of my […]
In the lead up to the opening of our forthcoming exhibition at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol in January, 2019, each of the four Document Scotland photographers gives an insight into the work they have made for the show. We start with Colin McPherson, who tells us about his project entitled Treasured Island. “Last year, […]
A Contested Land – new work and exhibition from Document Scotland. Set against the current political backdrop, Document Scotland’s four photographers examine the complex relationships between the nation’s people, history and landscape. Showing at The Martin Parr Foundation, 15th January 2019 – 16th March 2019. “The Foundation supports and preserves the legacy of photographers who […]
Over three Halloweens (2015-7), Margaret Mitchell photographed children who visited her home as Guisers. Their highly individual costumes displayed not only their originality but also conveyed aspects of the inner world of the child. Sophie spoke with Margaret about the project and took a look through the newspaper that Margaret has published in time for […]
Sophie Gerrard’s images from the Western Isles are featured in the exhibition We Feed The World from The Gaia Foundation at The Bargehouse Gallery, Oxo Tower, London until 21st October. Curated by Cheryl Newman and bringing together an international team of world-renowned photographers, farming communities, farmers’ movements and civil society groups, We Feed the World […]
This week I attended the opening of Paul Walton’s Hum, which runs until 9th February in an exhibition space on the 5th floor of Glasgow University’s St. Andrew’s building. I have been an admirer of Paul’s work for a number of years, and was impressed to see this collection of over 70 hand printed silver gelatin prints, […]
Document Scotland photographer Colin McPherson will be once again running a series of photography courses this summer. Based on the tiny car-free island of Easdale, 15 miles south of Oban, Colin and fellow photographer, Liverpool-based Adam Lee, will host the short residential courses, where photographers of all levels will be guided and assisted to create […]
The inaugural Flow Photography Festival took place across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in September 2017 with the theme ‘People and Place’. The festival launched at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, with several other galleries hosting work by internationally-acclaimed and award-winning photographers from Iceland, Finland, Scotland and Norway, icluding work by three Document Scotland […]
Document Scotland are very pleased to announce that we’re being represented in the inaugural Flow PhotoFestival, with two bodies of work. The new photography festival takes place across the Highlands of Scotland throughout September. Colin McPherson’s images of Scottish football culture, the When Saturday Comes series, are on show at the Eden Court, Bishops Rd, Inverness, IV3 5SA. From 2nd […]
Tanera (Ar Dùthaich) is a project by Derbyshire-based photographer Kevin Percival which will be exhibited from this Sunday, 18th June, at Rhue Art in Ullapool. The photographs featured focus on a tiny island off the west coast of Scotland, where Kevin lived and worked for several years. Like many of Scotland’s coastal communities, the challenges […]
The work of Scottish photographer Keith Lloyd Davenport first came to our attention last year when Document Scotland held a portfolio review session in Cardiff at the launch of our Common Ground exhibition at the city’s Millennium Centre. It’s fair to say that tackling the subject of fishermen as a documentary photographer offers both abundant […]
Celebrating 175 years of Scottish Photography in the home of Scottish Photography We at Document Scotland are very pleased to involved with the first ever St Andrews Photography Festival 2016 where we will be presenting a Document Scotland public exhibition and a free Salon afternoon of talks, multimedia and discussion about documentary photography in Scotland. […]
Jeremy’s image from the Glasgow shipyards, taken in 1992 and currently featured in the exhibition Govan/Gdansk at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow was featured in the Guardian this week with an interview by Ben Beaumont Thomas. You can read the interview here: “In the 1990s I lived in Govan, on the south side of Glasgow, […]
I was really pleased to be invited earlier this month to present a paper about my work Drawn To The Land at the recent conference and exhibition Northern Light: Landscape Photography and Evocations of The North at Sheffield Hallam University. The conference and related exhibition explore the ways that photographic images address notions of a […]
This month sees the first new whisky distillery for a century officially opening in Fife. Document Scotland photographer Colin McPherson was commissioned by the company responsible for the project, MacDuff International, a Swedish-own film with head offices in Glasgow, to document the construction of the InchDairnie facility from a brown-field building site to completed distillery. […]
Our exhibition The ties That Bind is now in its final month at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery – and to mark this, Sophie has written a blog piece for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery talking about how she made her work Drawn To The Land. In 2013 I began an exploration of my own […]
Cliftonhill is one of the most evocative grounds in Scottish football, yet one suspects hardly anyone in Scotland could describe what it looks like or even – given Albion Rovers’ name – where it is. Photographer Iain McLean has spent many years visiting the ground as a fan and a photographer. His project, entitled More […]
To mark today’s final printed edition of the Independent, Document Scotland’s Colin McPherson talks about his contribution to the newspaper and the motivation behind the publication of a book of his photographs taken on assignment for, or published by, the paper. Document Scotland (DS): Today, 26th March, the last edition of the Independent will hit […]
Twenty years ago this weekend, on 13th March 1996, a lone gunman entered Dunblane Primary School and shot dead 16 pupils and their teacher, before killing himself. Document Scotland photographer Colin McPherson was one of the first Press photographers on the scene and recalls the impact the day had on the town, its people and […]
On Wednesday 9th March at 12:45pm Sophie will be taking part in a panel discussion with historian Dr Elizabeth Ritchie (University of the Highlands and Islands) and crofter and writer Liz Paul, will look at the history and context of women crofters in Scotland and beyond. This panel discussion will take place in The Scottish […]
Our Salon events for 2016 start next month, and we are delighted to be partnering with the University of Highlands and Islands to bring you events across Scotland. On the 18th February 2016 we will be hosting an event from Perth College which will be streamed live to venues across Scotland. We hope you’ll be […]
On Thursday 14th January 2016 Anne Lyden, International Photography Curator of our exhibition “The Ties That Bind” currently on at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, will lead a tour of the exhibition from 5pm – 5:30pm. All are welcome – this event is FREE. For more information please see here
Fareweel to a’ oor Scottish fameFareweel oor ancient gloryFareweel even tae oor Scottish nameSae famed in martial storyNoo Sark runs o’er the Solway sandsTweed runs tae the oceanTae mark whereEngland’s province standsSuch a parcel o’ rogues in a nation – Robert Burns, 1791 In 2013, I began a twelve-month journey to trace Scotland’s border with […]
September 2014. Highs, lows, an historical and unforgettable week for Scotland. Here are some of the images shot by Colin McPherson, Sophie Gerrard, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert and Stephen McLaren in the lead up to and over the 18th September 2014. The world was watching, and so were we… (above: Alex Salmond and a supporter take a […]
Following on from the success of the Document Scotland Portrait Salon event at Stills Gallery in Edinburgh – we are delighted that the first ever printed Portrait Salon exhibition will take place from January 10th 2014 at new venue FUSE Art Space in Bradford. The exhibition features a cross section of the best contemporary portrait […]
Saturday 21st September, 2013: thousands come to march in support of a ‘yes’ vote in the following year’s Independence referendum. Edinburgh provides the venue and historic backdrop for this milestone event. Document Scotland photographers Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert and Colin McPherson were on hand to document the day. As the crowds gathered in the High Street, so […]
Margaret Thatcher‘s passing in April 2013 brought to an end the life of one of the most controversial and influential post-War British politicians. The Conservative leader, who had served as Prime Minister from 1979 until being deposed by her own party in 1990, divided opinion. What cannot be doubted, is that she changed society and […]
The A41 Project was Colin McPherson‘s year-long exploration of the causes and effects of inequality in our society, which used one of England’s celebrated Trunk Roads to metaphorically illustrate the concepts behind the photography. Here he explains the background to the project and how it materialised: “The A41 Project had its genesis at Look11, the […]
We’ve decided to showcase some of our many projects and work in a new Document Scotland publication, a 16 page colour newspaper, with the catchy title of DOC001. Primarily designed and published for our own use, we’re so happy with the look of it that we thought we’d also offer them to the readers of […]
In 2013, Colin McPherson looked back at a moment in time 20 years previously, and delved into his archive of photographs to show some contrasting sides to Auld Reekie, his home city of Edinburgh. Here he explains more about the process: “The portfolio of images Document Scotland presented last week to mark the 20th anniversary […]
The mission: put down the bevy, pick-up the camera and bring a bit of festive cheer by photographing Scotland leaving 2012 behind. Witness the renewal of friendships, goodwill being shown to neighbours and strangers alike, and reflect a desire for better times ahead. Document Scotland wishes all our colleagues and the wider Scottish photography community […]
In honour of Scotland’s patron saint and also of Document Scotland’s first ever St. Andrew’s Day together as a collective in 2012, we decided to undertake a little group project. Each of our photographers took a wander with our cameras to see what was happening in our neighbourhoods, we found ceilidhs, balls and festivities. Some […]
In 2005, Colin McPherson was commissioned to travel to Brazil to report on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. During his trip, he made a surprising discovery: “In the middle of the Brazilian Amazon jungle, on the banks of the mighty Tapajos river, the intrepid traveller comes across a truly lost city: Fordlandia. Named after […]
Last week, the island of Easdale was in the news about a threat to a world-class sporting event held on its square mile of craggy slate anchored off the Argyll coast. Apparently the island’s owner wanted to cancel the island’s premier sporting event of the season, the World Stone Skimming Championships, for not providing a […]
In 2004, Document Scotland photographer Colin McPherson visited the newly-built Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood before it opened. Here he explains the details behind the commission: “Exactly one month before its official Royal opening in September 2004, I was granted a preview of the newly-completed Scots Parliament building in Edinburgh, forever after to be known […]
Easily the most pleasurable aspect of working on assignment as a documentary photographer is meeting and getting to know the people you photograph. One of my most memorable experiences was being commissioned to travel to the Hebridean island of Eigg to do a profile of the island’s postman, John Cormack. Like the protagonists in the […]