I am always intrigued by creative people who manage to cross-pollinate their practice by involving other disciplines. I first came across the work of Angus-based writer Bill Duncan in the first years of this century, when he published a couple of wry, funny and beautifully-observed chronicles of Scottish life through the prism of Calvinism.
A few days back photographer Iain McLean told Colin and I that he’d been working on a series of portraits of homeless people, and assisted by the Simon Community Scotland. Today he shares with us some of the work, which is still ongoing and due to be exhibited in October, along with his thoughts on the project.
Document Scotland caught up with photographer Holger Mohaupt to talk to him about his work titled The CoronaTapes, a project made in response to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic crisis. Walking with Gloves – A Pandemic Diary DS- How did the project come about?HM – The project wasn’t planned, it emerged from conversations with people in […]
Last week, via Twitter I found this little set of images by a good friend and colleague, the London-based photographer Richard Baker. I was struck by the text and images which I thought formed a tender little portrait of both a day out as a working photographer, and also of Tom Leppard, the tattooed hermit of Skye.
DOCUMENT SCOTLAND SEEKS SUPPORT TO CONTINUE MAKING AND SHOWCASING THE BEST OF SCOTTISH DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY Document Scotland is launching an initiative to continue the work they do to support photography in Scotland. They are inviting individuals and organisations to become their patrons, and in doing so, putting the work of the collective on a sustainable […]
Document Scotland was delighted to be able to talk to recent graduate photographer Ili Mansor about her work titled Salaam. Salaam is a short form for ‘As-salamu alaykum’ which means may peace be upon you, a universal greeting Muslims greet each other with. Salaam (peace) is the main concept of this body of work. Islamophobia […]
Hailstones, Kinnaber, 2000. Photograph © Colin McPherson, all rights reserved. This Saturday, 30th May 2020, is the twentieth anniversary of the day I took a photograph that has come to symbolise my work and the project Catching the Tide, which documented Scotland’s last salmon net fishermen. To mark the occasion, Document Scotland is hosting a […]
Document Scotland showcases the work of veteran photojournalist Mike Abrahams though his series of images titled Glasgow. Here he explains the background to the work: “I grew up in Liverpool in the 50s and 60s, a city in which to my eyes colour was absent. I recall soot, smog and dereliction only in black and […]
Over here in Document Scotland HQ we’re fans of those who promote democracy within photography, who give voices to all photographers, where all opinions are welcome and valid. For that reason we enjoy the podcasts brought to us by Grant Scott’s UN of Photography every Wednesday, in which he explores the topic of the week […]
Life is changing for all of us. That much we know about the world we live in as the conseqienses the coronavisrus pandemic become more apparent. The future has never looked more uncertain and we can only guess and speculate what is in front of us now. A year ago, Document Scotland photographer Colin McPherson […]
Trying to keep up to date with the current tumultuous news of life on Twitter it’s heartening to scroll to a Tweet which shows images and catches your eyes. Such has been the way this past week or so when I’ve discovered two photographers posting old images of Glasgow and beyond. I dropped them both a note, […]
It’s Saturday afternoon during the coronavirus outbreak and I have the blues. Our football grounds, like the cities and towns across the country, are silent and empty. Like everyone else, I won’t be going to a game today. There’s something particularly sad and sombre for a football fan to see our stadiums unused and redundant. […]
In the lead up to the opening of our latest showing of A Contested Land, which takes place as part of FLOW Photofest in Inverness in September, Document Scotland’s photographers give an insight into the work they have made for the show. Here, Colin McPherson, tells us about one of his favourite images his project entitled Treasured Island. “Serendipity […]
Sophie was commissioned by Perth Museum and Art Gallery to continue her long term project Drawn To The Land, the resulting work is currently being exhibited at the gallery until the end of October. Drawn To The Land continues to be a fascinating journey for me. For this chapter it took me to Perthshire, where […]
The memories are still ripe in my mind. The rain sliding in a grey sheet across the train window, the cold air colliding with our faces and the wind catching our breath as we alight from the train at the inappropriately-named Coatbridge Sunnyside station. In the distance, piercing the sodden winter gloom, bright stripes of […]
“If you’re not rebelling, you’re not paying attention” is a quote on a placard and gives the title to a portfolio of photographs by Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert in 2019, documenting the climate protests on 2019 in Glasgow. Here he explains what he saw: “From young to old, seasoned campaigners to those learning to take action, the […]
It was with interest recently that I spotted a little link in a mailer from Street Level Photoworks / Photo Networks Scotland, that author Michael Cope would be doing a talk (last week) in Uist about his new book on The Photographs of Archie Chisholm. I wasn’t aware of the name Archie Chisholm, or of […]
There are less than a week to catch 2 exhibitions featuring work by Sophie Gerrard this month. ‘209 Women’ at the Open Eye Liverpool and ‘Sixteen’ at Format Festival in Derby. Both exhibitions finish on the 14th April 2019. If you are in Liverpool or Derby do try and see them. 209 Women Open Eye […]
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 […]
As we approach 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. Here, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert tells of his project ‘Let Glasgow Flourish’: “I’ve always marvelled at the thought that walking down the street any one person […]
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 […]
This interview by Sophie predates Margaret joining Document Scotland. The final project has 100 images and ran from 2015-2019 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 […]
@EverydayClimateChange photographic collective are bringing their images off the popular Instagram feed and onto the gallery walls of Trongate 103, Glasgow, this month, in an exhibition running from 4th Oct – 4th November. The exhibition is an off-site show from Street Level Photoworks. An opening reception will be held on 4th October, from 6pm- 7:30pm, […]
Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert’s images shot during the visit of Nelson Mandela to Glasgow in 1993, go on display this month at the City Chambers in Glasgow. Coinciding with Black History Month, the small exhibition has been made possible with the support of Street Level Photoworks, and depicts the events of the visit of Mandela to Glasgow to […]
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: TRANSPORTATION PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND 2 June 2018 – 13 January 2019Scottish National Portrait Gallery1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD0131 624 6200 | Admission FREE#PlanesAndTrains Part of Edinburgh Art Festival 2018 The extraordinary advances in the technology of travel over the past 170 years, and their wide-ranging impact […]
100 years of Scottish photography secured for the nationAn exceptional collection of historic photographs that captures a century of life in Scotland is to be shared with the public following a special collaboration between the National Library of Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland. More than 14,000 images – dating from the earliest days […]
Paul Duke’s new book of photography, No Ruined Stone, reminds us that the places in which we grow up rarely leave us, they exert a pull across the decades and often force us in later life to re-examine how we have become the person we are today. Muirhouse, built in the 1950s as a council estate to […]
10 from the North | 10 bho Tuath 10 March – 14 April 2018 This exhibition of new photographic work from Scotland and the Nordic countries showcases some of the most interesting contemporary imagery being made by female practitioners. The Scottish-based Wildfires collective features established names such as Patricia Macdonald with her work ‘Burnt […]
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 […]
Nil Desperandum – the motto of Bellahouston Harriers running club, a club based in Glasgow’s Southside and formed in 1892. Boasting a long and prestigious history, including Olympians, the club has won many District and National level trophies. The club this week held a 125th anniversary run, commemorating the first recorded Bellahouston Harriers run on the […]
Photographer of Glasgow, Colin Templeton, is exhibiting work in a group show Photography Now, at the Brick Lane Gallery in London, from 8th – 20th November. There’s an opening night on the 8th Nov, 6.00- 8.30pm. Of the work he’ll exhibit Colin says, “The city is in constant flux. Right now in Glasgow the shipyard […]
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 […]
Recently as a group we were delighted to be invited to spend time at the University of St Andrews, taking a look at what goes on behind the scenes, seeing the little moments which make the historic educational establishment run on a daily basis. From gardeners to waiting staff, from members of staff to the choirs […]
We’re delighted that the next photography exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, ‘When We Were Young’, will include work from the Scottish photography archive by Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert. Included in the group show will be Jeremy’s images of Roma children, photographed in Sintesti Roma camp in Romania in the early 1990’s, part of his multi-year […]