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Viragos
The link between the Highland Clearances and the modern-day tourist industry in the Highlands is obvious but rarely spoken about. In a more universal sense it is the link between colonialism and the exploitation of native populations. In many ways, gentrification is soft-core colonialism.
Natives are, historically, deemed lesser, called savages, colonised in the deceitful name of saving them and subsequently ethnically cleansed. In the years following, the imperial state bastardises the culture they initially tried to eradicate, romanticises it, and sells it as a product to the bourgeois who co-opt it like amateur cosplayers (Queen Victoria wearing Stuart tartan, or overpriced, brick-laden coffee shops moving into "up-and-coming areas")
The following generations are then forced to sell a pseudo-culture they cannot truly connect with to gawking tourist who pine for the "authentic thing". Ironically, what is considered the "authentic thing" isn't really understood by anyone. The toursit industry commodifies local communities to the point that working class locals cannot keep up with the competition and are priced out of the area that raised them.
This alienation is rampant amongst the working classes all over the world, but it is something I personally experienced within the context of the Highlands. Making any real political change often feels hopeless when many other locals are themselves so defeated or worse, are plagued with "Highland Stoicism". looking to history for solace is often in vain - The Highland Clearances is all-in-all a very hopeless moment in Scottish History - but I was inspired by one story of radical collective action between landlords and crofters that had a radically hopeful tone.
I have been working with Delirium to build an installation inspired by the brave women of Coigach. I want working-class Highlanders not to be afraid to question and rise against systemic injustices we face at the hands of capitalism, and not to fear the labels or social ostracisation that may follow. I want to eradicate any shame in anger and promote radical collective action. But mostly, I want to express the maddening disconnect between the fetishistic view of a community, and the actual lived reality for working-class locals. We plan to showcase this interactive exhibition in Autumn 2026. This page is the creative process.
Concept Development - Katelyn's Meeting Notes
Photographic Experiments
Location and Material Viewings
Compositional Studies - Oil Pastel on Paper
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