“We no longer fear axe and saw.
Now, only the wind can topple us,
And the rains wash the crumbling earth
From beneath our roots.”
— ‘Yard Dyke Trees’
Where have they gone, the people who lived here?
“To think they were all occupied at one time, a little community, but that was just how it goes.” Nan Fraser, December 2019.
Drawn from the past was a two-year project undertaken in collaboration with Grantown-on-Spey Museum and Seafield Estates. The project received funding from Statkraft. It was a visual, oral, and written investigation of depopulation on the moorland fringes of the Cairngorms National Park. The project was based upon an oral history study which was used as a starting point for producing artworks. The project was shared via a series of events. These included three exhibitions, recording memories sessions, walking and storytelling events on the moors, and a seventy-page publication Drawn from the Past: Voices from Dava Moor (Grantown on Spey, 2021) detailing the history of the community on Dava Moor through documentary and oral sources.
Some of the participants in the Dava Moor project with Grantown Museum.
An important element of the Dava project was the recording of people’s memories of life on the moors. These sound recording were repurposed to create audio artworks for both the final exhibition and to be listened to on location on the moors. One of the sound artworks created was ‘Voices from the Moor’. This artwork is intended to capture the textures, accents and cadences of a conversation from a lost community:
Project Events
‘Where have they gone, the people who lived here'?’ Immersive poetry exhibition at Moray Art Centre. March 2019.
Call for memories - Strathspey and Badenoch Herald and Press and Journal, February and May 2019.
‘Remains of Lost Lives’ exhibition of paintings and photographs at Grantown Museum. June 2019.
Recording Memories Sessions. December and January 2019/20. Oral history event with people wishing to discuss their memories of life on the moors.
‘Drawn from the Past| The Dava Project’ Exhibition of oral history and art at Grantown Museum, with video and archive images May-July 2021.
‘Drawn from the Past’ Podcast Series, Five Episodes recorded in Spring 2021 for release during the course of Dava Project Exhibition.
Voices on the Moor. Evening broadcast of oral history recordings en site. August 2021.
Drawn from the Past: Voices from Dava Moor (Grantown on Spey, 2021) 70 page publication detailing the history of the community on Dava Moor through documentary and oral sources. Interpreted through imagery and poetry. A sample of the project publication ‘Drawn from the Past’ is available here.
The Key Above the Door. Evening talk at Grantown Museum and storytelling walk to Dalvoulin on Dava Moor. September 2022
