Photography project creates 'unique and vivid record of Castletown'
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A PhD student from the University of the Highlands and Islands has spent the past year working on a unique photography project in Caithness.
Julian Grant, who comes from America and has lived in Scotland for eight years, is looking at the relationship between visitors and communities around the North Coast 500 tourist route.
As part of his research he embarked on Living Landscapes of Castletown, documenting the village area through the eyes of some of the people who live there. Covid-19 restrictions impacted on his plans but he managed to continue with the project in a way that complied with the rules.
"It was a challenging time," he admitted.
Mr Grant linked up with Castletown Heritage Society and five volunteers helped him, as chairman Neil Buchan explained.
"Using disposable film cameras, the volunteers created a set of images and accompanying words that show Castletown as a vibrant place where the land itself is etched with stories, relationships, uses and meanings," he said. "This reminds us all – visitors and locals alike – that this is not a remote wilderness but a peopled place."
Mr Grant (26), who lives in Thurso, said: "Once the shots were developed and printed, a series of one-to-one and group Zoom sessions allowed the participants to share and discuss the stories and meanings behind them. They also wrote descriptive captions for their selections of photos.
"Conducted in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a unique and vivid record of Castletown at this moment in time that shows how a tourist landscape looks from the inside, through the eyes of the people who live there. It is looking at the relationship between people and place, the contrast between the traditional image of the Highlands and the reality of living here."
He added: "These images and words are full of memories, of people, of bits of poetry, of personal forms of knowledge rooted in the joys and challenges of life in a rural community. They helped me see Castletown from a different angle.
"What do these pictures tell you about life in Caithness today? How do they compare with your expectations and assumptions about this place and the people who live here?"
Mr Grant, who is working with several heritage organisations across the north Highlands, is also hoping the project will spark conversations on tourism, community heritage and the landscape.
If Covid-19 restrictions allow, it is hoped public exhibitions will take place at Castlehill Heritage Centre and Lyth Arts Centre this summer. In the meantime, the project can be viewed on the Castletown Heritage Society website. A book of the photos is also being considered.
The research is being funded by the European Social Fund and Scottish Funding Council as part of Developing Scotland's Workforce in the Scotland 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Fund Programme.
Mr Grant, from Vermont, moved to Scotland when he was 18 to study at St Andrews University. He has been in Scotland since and has spent two-and-a-half years in the Highlands. He said: "Scotland is getting like home."
