Lyth Arts Centre and Caithness artist involved in creation of Covid memorial

Lyth Arts Centre (LAC) and a Caithness-based artist are part of a Scotland-wide creative collaboration to honour people lost during the pandemic and preserve memories.

Remembering Together is a national programme of remembrance managed by Greenspace Scotland, bringing together communities and artists and creative practitioners in collective acts of reflection, remembrance, hope and healing.

Supported with funding provided by the Scottish Government, memorial projects are being co-created in every local authority area of Scotland to "honour the people we have lost, mark what has changed in our lives and preserve the best of what we learned and created together during the pandemic".

Greenspace Scotland is delighted to be working with LAC as the delivery partner for Highland. In December, three artists were appointed to take forward the first phase of Remembering Together with Highland communities. In the coming months ideas and opportunities will be developed with communities that could include not only gardens and physical structures but also work that is digital or could exist in many locations.

These ideas will be realised in phase two of the programme, beginning later this year.

The three artists, who are working collaboratively are:

• Cat Meighan, from Inverness, is a socially engaged contemporary art practitioner and producer, whose practice includes painting, printmaking, sculpture, and installation.
• Hector MacInnes, a sound artist, musician and producer from the Isle of Skye, works with installation, text, composition and radio.
• Sinéad Hargan, from Caithness, is a multi-disciplinary artist working with live performance, participatory performance, sound, and film. Sinéad’s work is often centred around acts of collective grieving.

Based in Caithness, Skye, and Inverness, all three have previously collaborated as part of the national Culture Collective project, working with communities particularly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sinéad said: "We’re looking forward to bringing our shared collaborative practice to this project, and to working with a range of communities all across the Highlands. We understand that this is a really diverse and expansive region, and we want to respect that, while finding shareable, possible and Highland ideas about commemoration."

The role of the Remembering Together artist in every part of Scotland has been to work with people in ways that are inclusive and relevant with the emphasis on co-creation. As part of the project, a learning plan supports artists in communities and acknowledges that we are working in a diversifying Scotland and in a climate emergency. The pandemic is not over, we are living in times of change, and as such co-creating with care is a fundamental value supporting the programme.

Each local authority area has its own page on the Remembering Together website for local updates. For updates on Remembering Together Highland, contact info@lytharts.org.uk

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