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Inshriach Bothy Project
Cairngorm Youth Artist in Residence (funded by the Cairngorms Youth LAG)
As I worked on my MA I realized just how fragile intangible heritage can be. Stories, myths, legends, and information historically passed down orally become lost without forms of conservation. Incorporating this fragility became an important part of the Inshriach Bothy Project, incorporating knowledge from locals and others research forms into something physical. The spacial artworks, made from natural and biodegradable materials, have been photographed in the landscape with both their story exposed and hidden - mirroring how easily knowledge can be lost. I firmly believe that knowing a story and being able to pinpoint it to a location can aid in environmental protection. By combining landscape and people through stories, we can conserve both the landscape and the cultural heritage of an area. These tales have been collected into a basic illustrated map where clicking on each image brings up the spacial artworks. The artworks were placed into an already existing walk in the Cairngorms located at Glenmore.
The walk of folklore follows the Ryvoan Pass mapped walk starting at the Glenmore Visitor centre and leads to An Lochan Uaine (The Green Lochan), a well known lochan with waters a magical shade of blue/green. The water is said to get its colour from the fairies who wash their clothes in the water. Along the walk, the spacial artworks were placed at different points where stories are linked. This draws attention not only to the stories from the landscape and allow people to re-interact with the cultural heritage of the landscape, but also allow for these stories to live on the more people discover them.
The Cairngorms Youth Local Action Group (Youth LAG), a sub group of the Cairngorms Trust, is responsible for a fund of £15,000 to empower the youth in their living, learning and working within the Cairngorms National Park. The fund is promoting young people’s connection to nature and community and inspire environmental awareness to create positive change and take action to address biodiversity loss and climate change. We want to protect and conserve our environment and develop a deep nature connection that has positive impacts on health and well-being.
