MEN & BEASTS

The wild men here are not hermits. They are men who do what they love, their wildness comes from an independent spirit. The domestic animals here are not pets, many of them love and live with families but they retain their natural instincts, to herd, to mouse, to protect, to forage for food. Creatures who add to our diminished senses. – Valerie Gillies

Men and Beasts was a collaboration with poet Valerie Gillies. In 1999 we set out to document man’s relationship to animals and the land at the turn of the century, recording a year’s worth of meeting and greeting remarkable spirits, both human and animal. We were aware of a timelessness in the lives of the subjects and wanted to create an archive of the places and faces that caught our imagination and held a fascination.

Here is a small selection of images.

 

White Park cattle, Haddington

 

Gordon gorge-crossing

 

Black fairy dog

 

Highland Cattle, Newton Hill, Inverness-shire

 

Skinny-dipping

 

Archie’s last weekend with his hersel. Sold

 

Hooded falcon

 

The farrier visits Jean, Tweedsmuir

 

The Anderson’s Collie, Easter Craggach, Inverness-shire

 

Rab the Ferryman (the man who found the Roman Lioness), Crammond

 

The project, partly funded through the Scottish Arts Council, resulted in an exhibition at art.tm gallery, Inverness, and in the book Men & Beasts. The exhibition toured including a show at The Link Gallery, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, the psychiatric hospital where Valerie and I met while working there as arts workers.

More about Valerie Gillies here.

The book is available at Luath Press and Stromness Books and Prints.

 

There are about a dozen photographs from the original exhibition available. They are hand printed silver gelatin traditional darkroom prints.

They are unframed and window mounted. Size approx 50cm x65cm. Price unframed £120.

If you would like to enquire about any of the Men & Beasts images please contact me here.

 

Electric deerhounds. Sold