Exhibition of rovers in Crieff

Jan 19 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

A DRAMATIC exhibition of photographs and video from the streets of Crieff is being held in the IT Gallery of the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh this winter.

Wild Rovers documents a partnership project organized by the National Galleries of Scotland and Perth and Kinross Council to reflect on the history of the Crieff area and welcome the launch of the Strathearn Community Campus.

Inspired by paintings of the Highland landscape and its cattle by Victorian artist Peter Graham – from the National Gallery of Scotland and Perth Museum and Art Gallery collections – local residents and school students, aided by artist Gavin Lockhart, created flags, surreal digital photographs and a dramatic community ‘stampede’ mark the passage of Crieff from its past on an ongoing journey to the future.

Using masks as a device to see Crieff through the eyes of the cattle formerly brought to the market, local participants met the challenge ‘to see things differently’ and enact a symbolic ‘re-branding’ of their hometown.

Wild Rovers is part of the National Galleries of Scotland Education Outreach series Parallel Lives, which aims to make key works in the National Galleries of Scotland collection more directly relevant to the diverse communities living in Scotland. This partnership with Perth and Kinross Council is the first time the National Galleries of Scotland has delivered its successful Parallel Lives outreach initiative outside Edinburgh.

Through its Parallel Lives initiative, the National Galleries of Scotland is committed to working in partnership with local authorities across Scotland, using existing works of art to inspire whole communities.

‘Wild Rovers – Parallel Lives in Crieff’ is at the National Gallery complex at The Mound in Edinburgh until February 28.

The exhibition will then tour to the Strathearn Community Campus in March.