REFLECT linked four projects across Argyll, with artists working in partnership with local communities, heritage gardens and development trusts to design new spaces and artworks for memory and reflection. The project grew from the Remembering Together co-creation carried out in Argyll and Bute in 2022/23, where the majority of participants noted the importance that the outdoors and natural environment played in supporting the mental health of our communities during the pandemic.

The projects took place if four different areas culminating in a region wide event in August 2024. You can find more about the projects below.

Shelter

Garelochhead Centre 81, led by artist Emma Henderson

Emma Henderson is an artist and educator with a background in design and printmaking. Her practice explores heritage crafts, technology, ecology, and community. Emma worked with communities around the Garelochhead area, particularly those who access the community space and garden at Centre 81, including Route 81, Garelochhead Station Trust, Helensburgh and Lomond Carers and F.A.C.E Ability Group, to co-design a space for reflection and remembering.

It has been so special to bring this project to Centre 81; I already knew that I loved working with the community there and was actively seeking projects that could provide the garden with more support and encourage others to use the space. This project surpassed my expectations and brought not just a strengthening of professional relationships but a real deepening of community connection personally. It has been a joy to be part of this community, and I will continue to seek out ways of working with these groups in particular, as well as ways to challenge myself further.
Emma Henderson

Emma Henderson drew inspiration from the National Museum of Northern Ireland’s quote as a starting point: “While we have a shared past, we don’t have a shared memory”. Emma worked with Centre 81's core users to empower them to share their stories and experiences to create a collective space for reflection and remembrance, hosting creative workshops and activities, including zine making and a community memory gathering project, ‘Postcards from the pandemic’ to identify feelings around lockdown.

Silver Linings

Rothesay, led by Luke Winter

Story writer and teller Luke Winter used the power of words to create opportunities for celebration and gratitude in public spaces. Luke worked with community members, including members of Sawa Project, a group of local New Scots, to create conversations about reflecting on recent years, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

Image credit: Luke Winter and Sean Catlin

Through workshops co-created and co-led with local artist Za Zissou, Luke created opportunities for celebration and gratitude in public spaces. He developed materials and ideas to create three new sculptures for Bute. In addition to fostering reflection, these workshops aimed to promote cross-cultural understanding and inclusion by providing opportunities for diverse community members, including refugees and New Scots, to share their experiences and contribute to the project.

Luke created three artworks titled Silver Linings, inspired by Bute's history as a beloved seaside destination. Stories gathered from workshops were captured on the work's reflective surfaces and integrated into temporary illuminated shrines along Rothesay’s promenade on 17 August 2024 as part of Remembering Together, REFLECT Community Day.

This series stands as a tribute to the resilience and unity of our community during the challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic. It reflects our shared journey, honouring the losses we have endured and the strength we have discovered within ourselves and each other.
Luke Winter

Looking for light in the darkness

Campbeltown Museum, Linda McCartney Garden, led by Artist Kirsten Millar and Project Facilitator Muriel MacKaveney

Artist Kirsten Millar and project facilitator Muriel MacKaveney worked with local artists and the community to co-create a new sculptural sundial for the Linda McCartney Memorial Garden at Campbeltown Museum in collaboration with the McCartney Memorial Trust.

The sundial, now situated in the Memorial Garden, is inspired by memories and conversations around the challenges of the pandemic and what connects us to each other and Campbeltown, how we view time, and what connects our past and future. Inspiration for this project was taken from the two historic sundials that currently exist in the garden, and aimed to bring sunlight back into the garden, reflecting our hope going forward from a dark time.

THIS IS ENOUGH / GÀRRADH GU LEÒR

Mull, Aros Park Historic Walled Garden, by Somewhere/Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie

Somewhere is a long-standing collaboration between award-winning artist/filmmakers Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie. Somewhere are known for their diverse work in documentary film and community-based public realm projects.

Nina and Karen worked with the former walled garden of Mull's Aros Park Historic Walled Garden, interpreting how the rewilded garden could be used as a space for shared reflection and conversation. Nina and Karen brought together local artists, gardeners, and residents to collaborate on building a local collective working to breathe new life into the garden. With the legacy of the pandemic underscoring the importance of inclusive outdoor space, Nina and Karen redeploying natural materials found in the garden to encourage intimate engagement with the garden's flourishing biodiversity.

Our approach to the Remembering Together Covid-19 memorial commissions developed from our own experiences of lockdown. Working under the title ‘THIS IS ENOUGH’ both strands of the project celebrated the many small acts of kindness and support we saw unfold around us during that time, and built on the sense that having time to look closely at our own surroundings and celebrate what we can make and grow ourselves 'at home' can be of value. We began the project by writing almost a ‘manifesto’ laying out this approach and used this text by way of an invitation to collaborators to work with us using materials to hand within Aros Walled Garden.
Nina Pope

THIS IS ENOUGH / GÀRRADH GU LEÒR is an ongoing project that extends beyond Remembering Together and offers Mull residents a chance to reunite, reflect on the pandemic, and shape the future of a community space.

On 17 August 2024, as part of Remembering Together, REFLECT Community Day, Nina and Karen invited fellow artists and local contributors to join them in creating hand-tied posies as gifts to someone they would like to remember or thank from the Covid period. This was followed by a screening of Islands in Film, a lockdown documentary by Alasdair and Georgia Satchel, featuring footage shot by 75 local residents and featuring the Mull Gaelic Choir, who joined in singing their section live from the audience.

REFLECT - Remembering Together Argyll and Bute comes to a close

Workshops and drop-in sessions with Lateral North