Projects and Residencies from 2004 - 2010, beginning with most recent.
Defending The Past
2009-2010
Images courtesy of RCAHMS
I was invited by The Royal Commission on the Ancient and
Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) in 2009 to research, develop
and lead a series of creative workshops for the schools that border
Cape Wrath Military Training Centre, as part of a project run by RCAHMS
entitled Defending the Past.
This project,
which received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Defence
Estates (who manage the military estate), aimed to increase access,
understanding and enjoyment of the built heritage contained within the
Training Centre and build a stronger relationship between the community
and the military. (read more)
I was commissioned by Timespan Arts and
Heritage Centre in 2007 to research, develop and lead the centre’s first youth
arts programme, and develop my own practice in the context of the North East
Coast fishing village, Helmsdale. The two year residency was entitled, OURS.
This
residency, which received funding from the, Scottish Arts Council’s partners programme and The Paul Hamlyn
Foundation aimed to engage and develop long-term relationships with young
people who have limited access to artists or galleries in the Highlands;
supporting them in developing and managing their own projects. Over the course
of the two years, I led nearly 300 participants in 8 communities across the
county of Sutherland in the OURS youth arts project, facilitating their interaction
with over 50 artists from the UK and abroad through trips, events, workshops
and apprenticeships.
Youth Arts Blog: www.spanners-in-the-works.blogspot.com
Artist in Residence Blog: www.timespanours-ruth.blogspot.com
To read a review of my residency written by Scottish Art, Critic Giles Sutherland, click here.
Ice House - OURS curatorial project
2009
Click here to read The Northern Times accompanying article
ELEPHANT TEST
2009 
Shot on Arkle, various other locations around North West Sutherland and Helmsdale’s Icehouse.Exhibited in Timespan May-June 2009, the grounds of Tate Modern as part of the Arte Povera Installation May 2009, and the New Art Gallery December – January 2010.
INSAKA - Triangle Arts Residency - Zambia
2007
In the middle of the African bush, 20 artists from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, USA, India and Scotland!, came together to exchange ideas and cultures under the banner of ”artists working with communities for environmental awareness”.
At the end of the two week residency, we held an open day on site. I exhibited a video documenting our experiences with the local tribes people. These short documents focused particularly on the female population of the tribes, who appeared to do everything: farming, teaching, cooking, and raising families. Many of the older women (understandably) complained that they suffered from back pains, and so the video opens with an amusing, yet informative lesson in several yoga stretches as taught by Aditi, our Indian artist on a hot, and slightly surreal morning in the middle of the village. The video then switches to the regular evening dancing and singing round the bonfire and the daily chore of grinding finger millet, which is then boiled to a solid substance called Nshima, the staple food of Zambia.
MacKay Country Residency
2006
I was commissioned by The MacKay
Country Group in 2006 to undertake a 3-month residency in the North Coast
community of Skerray.
This residency, which received funding from a
National Lottery grant through
the Scottish Arts Council and with partnership funding from Highland Year of
Culture 2007. I chose to focus on Eilean Nan Ron, Island of the Seals, which
was inhabited until 1938 and stands 2 miles off the coast. The houses on the
island can still be clearly seen from the mainland, adding to the rich vein of
mythology that surrounds the island.
2006/8
Performance documented on Super 8 film. Great Wall of China
Screened in Timespan, VASu exhibition
Liberty Tower
2004/6
Screened in Gallery Espace SD, Nafas Beirut
Beirut Lebanon, November 2006.
Liberty Tower is featured on a blog curated by Lebanese artist, Nayla Dabaji: www.lebanonthesedays.blogspot.com, a collective document bearing witness to the destruction and death of summer 2006 in Lebanon.
Bearing Witness
2004
Super 8 stills, screened Glasgow School of Art
Thoughts Through A Telescope Focused on Dumgoyne and Ruth Macdougall
28.3.04
First Thought – What the hell am I doing here?
(Feigning Venom)
(Feigning Venom)
Further thoughts – It’s not so bad, it’s not raining and I’m getting
The hang of this.
I just have to remember that everything is inverted
And that which lies to the left, still lies to the left.
On losing bearings, I have learned to take my eyeThe hang of this.
I just have to remember that everything is inverted
And that which lies to the left, still lies to the left.
From the lens, see for myself, and re align,
Simple as that.
Where the hell is she?
Since first I saw her, it has pleased me to
See her again.
Yet here, without her in my sight, I am hurting,
I am hurting badly, especially my spine.
Tripods are not my thing.
Is this a set up for my own discomfort?
If this is Art then I’m a Dutch man!
Since first I saw her, it has pleased me to
See her again.
Yet here, without her in my sight, I am hurting,
I am hurting badly, especially my spine.
Tripods are not my thing.
Is this a set up for my own discomfort?
If this is Art then I’m a Dutch man!
Again I scan from the summit, down past
The ridges, out to the outcrops of rock
And the tree line.
The ridges, out to the outcrops of rock
And the tree line.
Then she is there, in view, at last espied,
With her mother and her flag staff,
Unless of course there is another on that hill,
With another and a flag staff.
With her mother and her flag staff,
Unless of course there is another on that hill,
With another and a flag staff.
A saltire on a walking stick
Is not Macdougall’s way
Her standards will be higher,
By twenty feet I’d say!
Is not Macdougall’s way
Her standards will be higher,
By twenty feet I’d say!
Along the last ridge I keep my eye on her.
She is there! On the summit.
(weel done cutty sark!)
She is there! On the summit.
(weel done cutty sark!)
There are a number of souls nearer heaven
Today. I see the flag staff raised and secure
She hammers pegs in with such grace , (Ahmen)
Today. I see the flag staff raised and secure
She hammers pegs in with such grace , (Ahmen)
Her father arrives beside me just as the
Saltire climbs, fankles, unfurls and flaps
Free. We share the lens and view the
Scene, proudly perplexed
(everything being inverted)
Saltire climbs, fankles, unfurls and flaps
Free. We share the lens and view the
Scene, proudly perplexed
(everything being inverted)
In the past I have not had many thoughts
About inverted things, apart from Bats
Of course. The ones who go to sleep
Inverted in the branches of trees.
To my amusement they would drop off
Yet still hang on.
About inverted things, apart from Bats
Of course. The ones who go to sleep
Inverted in the branches of trees.
To my amusement they would drop off
Yet still hang on.
Well that’s enough time at the telescope.
Last thought -Tis a Woman’s art indeed
That turns a man’s world upside down.
That turns a man’s world upside down.
Don Van Grahm
