In the field with the vernacular photograph: archive, community memory and intangible heritage
- Submitting institution
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Glasgow School of Art
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 7526
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
- -
- Brief description of type
- Practice-based multi-component output
- Open access status
- -
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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-
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- This is a is longer form multi-component output comprising three community-based projects carried out over a six-year period. Collectively, these projects resulted in both site specific and gallery multi-media installations and a book chapter. As such, this is an output of extended scale and scope. In addition, the research required a sustained effort over the time of the projects to engage and develop relationships with multiple stakeholders, including the local communities, archivists and heritage groups of the three Scottish villages where the research was developed.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This output represents a six-year research enquiry by Nicky Bird, comprising three photographic-based projects - Heritage Site (2014-2016), Travelling the Archive (2015-2016), and Ghosting the Castle (2017) - and a book chapter. The research resides in Bird’s process of collaborative investigation of vernacular photographic archives and, through community engagement, the visualization of latent histories associated with those communities. Her research investigates how vernacular photographs, from the recent past and their relationship to a present-day landscape, reveal the cultural phenomenon of intangible forms of heritage within ‘fragile’ communities.
Bird conducted research in three Scottish villages with socio-economic challenges. External funders included ATLAS Arts, Creative Scotland, The Highland Council, The National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, New Media Scotland, and Timespan (£32,500). Therefore, key external partners were: three arts commissioners, two archives, three local history and heritage groups, and one community advocate. Each project involved close collaboration with community members (total: 124 participants). This output was disseminated through exhibitions, festivals, community-led events and talks (total audience: 49,803).
Bird’s research contributes to the fields of arts and heritage, cultural memory and photography, demonstrating the significance of community memories and narratives that respond to specific vernacular photographs and remnants in the local landscape. Her research connects heritage discourses (Raphael Samuel, Stuart Jeffrey) with those of vernacular photography and critiques of artistic appropriation (Geoffrey Batchen, Martha Langford). In this inquiry, such photographs retain their indexical link to ‘lives lived’ (Langford, 2008). Bird’s on-location methodology builds upon the work of Langford and Annette Kuhn to reveal intangible forms of heritage as expressed by community members, which leads to the creative outputs e.g. the multi-media installation for Heritage Site (2014-2016); multiple large-scale outdoor projections for Travelling the Archive (2015-2016); and a fold-out art map for Ghosting the Castle (2017).
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
