‘Un-boarding’ the window trom faca mi an àird an Iar/ through which I saw the West: Excavating the practices of Anne Campbell, Marnie Keltie, Moira MacLean, Mary Morrison and Ishbel Murray

Cameron, Marie-Claire (2024) ‘Un-boarding’ the window trom faca mi an àird an Iar/ through which I saw the West: Excavating the practices of Anne Campbell, Marnie Keltie, Moira MacLean, Mary Morrison and Ishbel Murray. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis provides a close examination of artists’ Anne Campbell, Marnie Keltie, Moira MacLean, Mary Morrison and Ishbel Murray’s work and practices from 2000-2022. Prior to this study, the artists in question were unresearched in academia. The paper’s urge to highlight the artists’ practice derives from their timely engagement with decolonisation. To best understand the decolonising processes in the artists’ work, the paper proposes looking at them through a metaphorical lens: comparing the way the artists uncover stories from history to ‘un-boarding’ Sorley MacLean’s boarded house gazing West (as described in MacLean’s poem Hallaig from 1954). Then, the decolonising strategies deployed by each artist are unpacked through a postcolonial, loosely Bhabhanian, lens. The fruitful results of this application show the benefit of applying postcolonial theory to (disputedly) internal colonies and fringe nations.

The decolonising themes dealt with include discussions of (re)writing history, establishing the effects of Colonial Alienation, utilising mapping to discuss land issues in relation to Imperial intervention, reasserting the credibility of indigenous methods (both scientific and historical) and regaining indigenous autonomy. This paper looks at how the ‘un-boarding’ artists deconstruct representations of the Gael, representations which had roots in art made amidst the greatest Imperial intervention in the Gàidhealtachd – the Clearances of the 1800s. Critically, the paper also looks at how the artists went on to make radically hybrid, new representations of the Gàidhealtachd and its inhabitants - employing progressive temporal and spatial tools to do so.

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General); D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D204 Modern History; N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR; N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general; P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
• Supervisor's Name: Ross, Dr. Alexandra and Paterson, Dr. Dominic
• Date of Award: 2024
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2024-84074
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 07 Feb 2024 08:25
• Last Modified: 07 Feb 2024 08:28
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.84074
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/84074