The Lubare and the Boat Life and Legacy of explorer and missionary Alexander MacKay
Summer 2014 Missionaries, time-travelling, Uganda, mass pram walk, oaks, strawberries, hip-hop...
The Lubare and The Boat Afro-Caledonian festival took place in June, marking the end of Sanaa Gateja's residency and beginning of multi-disciplinary artist Xenson’s here at Deveron Arts. Sanaa and Xenson both joined us on an artistic pilgrimage from Uganda, hoping to unearth the legacy of Aberdeenshire born explorer, scientist and missionary Alexander MacKay. MacKay's story is little known in Aberdeenshire but his life and work has had a lasting effect on the country of Uganda. Almost everyone knows of him and his story; churches and schools are named after him, and it is now a predominantly Christian country.
Attempting to retrace MacKay's journey, Sanaa hoped to transpose the Ugandan legacy back into Aberdeenshire, reversing the flow of his teachings and investigating the spiritual divide between modern day Uganda and Scotland. Xenson, taking a different approach, is working outward, drawing lines away from the projected identity of missionaries like MacKay, towards a more contemporary politics of identity. While Sanaa celebrated MacKay’s life - the explorer, mechanic, anti-slavery activist, print maker, - Xenson’s project is the counterpoint, questioning the world wide impact and legitimacy of such legacies in political, ethical and economic terms.
Boat The Lubare and the Boat The Lubare and the Alexander M. MacKay /
The Lubare and the Boat Afro-Caledonian Festival / When Alexander MacKay, a Rhynie loon embarked on his journey, with the London Missionary Society, to Uganda he was received with mixed feelings. People were suspicious of his spiritual intentions and in awe of his master technical abilities at the same time. When he produced a well, people danced around it and him while singing ‘Mackay is the real Lubare (wizard), MacKay is the real Lubare!’ Our Afro-Caledonian festival began with a walk up the Top O’ Noth, a local hill presiding over Rhynie, where people witnessed the transformation of Sanaa into the ‘spirit of MacKay’ dressed in bark cloth and newspaper, before performing an expurgatory ceremony, releasing a screaming Xenson from a small cave in the hillside. Back in Rhynie the festival had it’s hub in No. 14, the local town hall. Inside the Rhynie Woman collective had set up shop, providing unusual but exceedingly tasty food with a twist, often incorporating wild ingredients. Encouraged to dress up, Sanaa took festival goers on a story-telling tour around the village, taking in some significant locations such as MacKay’s birth house, church and family grave stone, weaving in facts, aspirations and myths along the way. Afterwards Sanaa taught his paper bead technique, while we listened to Ugandan music, watched Xenson’s fashion show, talked and ate. No.14 was briefly transformed into somewhere else; not quite Rhynie, not quite Uganda. The warm atmosphere later being punctured by a spoken
word/rap performance from Xenson, briefly transporting us to yet another place. The following day begun with a special church service in the local church, bringing MacKay’s legacy in some way back full circle. This was followed by another tour around Rhynie and many more things to eat made from his parental garden. To close the event Dr Sarah Worden from National Museums Scotland presented a lecture on African Explorers and Missionaries, opening up a space to discuss some of the issues raised through Sanaa’s project as well as acting as a springboard from which Xenson can continue to investigate MacKay’s life through his residency. Xenson Znja arrived in early June on ‘Martyr’s Day’, an event which unfolds annually in Kampala— the city he had travelled from. This triggered an impromptu performance: Wrapped in bark cloth and canes, bare foot, Xenson slowly circled the Huntly square, before being lifted on top of a symbolic pile of wood, ready to be ‘burned.’ Xenson’s residency has so far been characterised by a series of small one-off performances, such as mentioned above, often happening in what seems like an almost spontaneous manner, each one intended to briefly puncture the social situation in which it occurs. ———————————————————Keep an eye, and an ear, out for more of these as the rest of Xenson’s residency unfolds. Further reading: The story of the life of MacKay of Uganda told for boys; by his sister, 1891 by Alexina (MacKay) Harrison
Alexander Murdoch MacKay was born in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire in 1849. The son of a Presbyterian minister, MacKay’s upbringing was both religious and academic, showing signs from an early age of possessing not only a great desire to learn but also to develop a wide set of skills. Fascinated by mechanics and the way things worked, he would later go on to study engineering, maths and natural philosophy. Leaving Scotland in 1873 for Berlin, where he studied language and became a draftsman for an engineering firm in the city. Inspired by the likes of Livingstone and Stanley, in 1876 Alexander Murdoch MacKay left Europe to begin a new life as a missionary in Uganda. In what was to be a remarkable journey, MacKay, along with the usual materials taken on such expeditions paper and cloth for trading - took the unusual, but significant, addition of a printing press. After struggling to navigate the perilous River Wami, MacKay carrying his boat, the Daisy, in sections walked for almost two years to reach the Kingdom of Buganda (now known as Uganda). Finally reaching Uganda, he began, in his own way, to spread the Christian word. However MacKay’s approach and attitude, although believing deeply in the word of God, was not that of ‘convert or be dammed’ but rather conversion through making and doing. Perhaps more importantly - as well as the Bible - he introduced new technological innovations to the kingdom such as wells, carts, lamps, and circulated printed material from his printing press. Due to his remarkable technical abilities and ingenuity, MacKay was often called by the locals 'the wizard', or the lubare, the kind of belief his mission was supposed to be fighting against. MacKay never returned home, he died in 1890 of malaria - 14 years after he set foot in Africa. ————————————————As a missionary, it could be argued, that MacKay failed; converting very few natives to Christianity during his life time. Never quite accepted during his time in Uganda – spending years teaching in secrecy – interestingly MacKay’s life has had a lasting impact on Uganda, a country now deeply Christian. A legacy not without its problems, the life of MacKay is an interesting lens through which to investigate the spiritual and cultural divide between our country and that of modern day Africa. What does it mean for us to engage with such a legacy, is history itself at stake?
Cork Board
Martyr Day with Xenson
Mass School Path making event
Tutambula Buganda Sitambula nzeeka Tutambula Buganda Baganda bita bikonaagana tebyatika Ntokomoka bisoko ngero Ntontoma mazima gokka semo tyamotya nze selyamutama Banji bajja kumpiita mutakiliza Bibuuzo mbuuza bisigukulula mitima Tebakuyita makayi? Tewalefa printa? Tewatambulira ku lyato Tewali mukristayo Tewatatagannya obwakabaka? Kabaka teyetamua neycwacwana Teyalagila batemeteme, bokye abagobelezi bo? Slow Marathon 2014
Do ye ken the way to Rothiemay? Do ye ken the way to Rothiemay? Wo wo wo wowowo wo wo wohh Tomorrow I’ll set off and make my way To a place downstream from here, a place called Rothiemay Do ye ken the way to Rothiemay? I must be sure to get to Rothiemay in just one day. I hear they’ve got real ale in Rothiemay That’ll suit me fine, I wont drink wine in Rothiemay When I make my way to Rothiemay I’ll get bed and breakfast, Deveron Arts will pay.
Xenson Fashion Design
from Singing the Deveron Parody by Jake Williams of Dionne Warwick’s 1960s hit ‘Do you know the way to San Jose?’
by Xenson Znja
The Path Travelled extra-ordinary encounters, both planned and unplanned by local residents. Slow Marathon attracts people from all walks of life. What began in 2012 as a very specific project, orchestrated by Ethiopian artist Mihret Kebede to draw attention to world wide migration issues, has become an annual event looking at different sociopolitical issues combined with the endurance of walking, making friends, and having a good day out discovering a new landscape. The day after a Slow Day to celebrate all things slow was held at Bogancloch in the Cabrach. The day centred around the showing and discussion of Ben Rivers’ film ‘Two Years at Sea,’ a movie about local musician Jake Williams (whose house the event was held at).
Walks Along the Deveron / Perambulator / To what extent do the outdoor spaces in which we travel through everyday condition our behaviours and actions, and can we use walking as a tool to help us subvert, challenge and rethink how these spaces are designed? London based artist Clare Qualmann, along with her two children Ruby (five months) and Ernest (two years) spent May with us, here in Huntly, exploring the architecture and route structure of the town through the lens of parenthood. Clare’s work stems from her obsession with the ordinary or the extra-ordinary, looking for and paying attention to those moments of beauty in the quotidian and everyday mundane, things often overlooked. Often focusing on walking, particularly walking as a necessary act which has the potential to become subversive, one which can help us rethink how the outdoor spaces in which we travel through everyday condition our behaviour and actions. Clare’s Perambulator project developed from her experience during the first months of her son’s life pushing his pram around the area that she had lived in for the last 12 years. Struck by the number of detours that she now had to take - the route alterations, the small (and not-so-small) impediments to smooth passage - her very familiar routes through and to places were rudely disrupted, forcing a new relationship with the physical details of the urban environment. Clare invited mums and dads to join her on a series of walks around town: Interested in investigating how the relationship between local parents and the town transformed—now encumbered by a pram or buggy—as they began having to navigate their way through it’s streets and public spaces with small children. Through these walks, Clare was able to gather information and experiences about not just the physical act of walking the town, but about life itself in Huntly as a family, parent or guardian with young children, building up a different map of Huntly, one conditioned by pram pushing and parenthood. As a final event on 28 May, Clare hosted a mass
pram walk through the streets of Huntly, the Perambulator Parade. Joined by around 30 decorated prams and pushchairs, the parade led from the Nordic Ski Centre to the Linden Centre, where walkers enjoyed an inventive children’s picnic from the Rhynie Woman collective. Clare is a founding member of the Walking Artists Network (walkingartistsnetwork.org) and the Walk Walk Walk project. She is currently a lecturer at the Institute for Performing Arts Development at the University of East London.
Slow Marathon / Could Slow Marathon as a participatory environmental action be adopted as part of an ongoing therapeutic laboratory of social transformation? Luiz Vergara in Fernweh Now in its third year, the 2014 Slow Marathon took place on 10 May. This year’s 26 mile route began in Glenkindie, travelling through an area known historically as the Hielan’ Ways, past Lumsden and Rhynie, finishing back in Huntly. Over 100 walkers started the morning being blessed with magic water by artist Gill Russell, who also appeared later on the route with her flute and a bottle of whisky. Near Rhynie, walkers were met by Ugandan artist Sanaa Gateja dressed in bark cloth, brandishing a ‘pseudo religious contraption’ to help him contact the spirit of missionary/explorer Alexander MacKay who used to play in those fields. Pit stops along the route included a musical interlude by local musician Jake Williams; ‘the best cinnamon buns in the world,’ courtesy of the Rhynie Woman collective; and an installation by the SSW artists. Not to mention all the other ordinary and
The River is quite important for us here. Not only are we named after it, but it runs through Huntly connecting us with both the mountains and the sea. Throughout spring and early summer we organised a series of walks which followed its course: Coast Festival / To launch Jake Williams and Anne Murray’s new book (song book and map with diary) we went for a walk from the mouth of the Deveron to Turriff. Jake joined us, providing us with some excellent banter, cup o’ soups, interesting insights about plants, the local area, as well as playing us a few songs from the song book as we walked together, before he disappeared off into the countryside around Forglen Estate. Creative Scotland Visit / April saw Creative Scotland CEO Janet Archer and some other 40 arts representatives from across the North East walking along the riverside from the Isla confluence; followed by an artachat hosted by Rocca Gutteridge on the future of the arts in Scotland and beyond. Walk with Paul Anderson, Ron Brander and Jake Williams / A summer’s evening walk along the River Deveron towards its source accompanied by local musicians Paul and Jake, and historian Ron. Packed full of interesting insights about the landscape we walked through, plus an impromptu gig in an abandoned farm house.
Rhynie Woman / Artists Daisy Williams and Deborah Beeson — alias Rhynie Woman — help us to manage our aspiration of ultimate hospitality through a yearlong residency applying an edge of ‘hostipitality’ to investigate the relationship between ourselves, our community and our guests. Watch out for stinging nettle cream cakes and other goodies.
The Path Ahead Urbanscape + Ruralsprawl / Friday 1 August, Edinburgh Artists Tim Knowles and Ania Bas will be leading a performative walk around Summerhall, its environs, as well as the many corridors, cupboards and lecture halls of Summerhall - the former Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh now a creative hub for the arts with studio and workshop spaces. It also houses the Demarco archive. The walking action will be followed by a panel discussion exploring the differences and similarities between urban and rural walking, chaired by curator and writer Dave Beech, alongside artists Gill Russell and artist/poet/publisher Alec Finlay. An excellent opportunity to test both the theory and practice of walking as a socially engaging artistic practice. Artists’ Walk, 10.30am, Summerhall, EH9 1QH. Panel Discussion, 2pm, Creative Scotland, Waverly gate, 2-4 Waterloo Place, EH1 3EG
Deveron Arts at the Huntly Summer School / Monday 4 - Friday 9 August, 1:30 - 3pm, The Brander Building, The Square, Huntly. As part of this years summer school we are organising a series of workshop days with Ugandan artist in residence Xenson. Self-confessing to be a Jack of all trades, Xenson incorporates performance, urban culture, fashion and installation. Inspired by the journey of explorer Alexander MacKay, he will be leading the workshop, combining fashion, hip-hop and graffiti. Summer schoolers will get a chance to work with a special Kanga fabric printed by Xenson, adapting it into t-shirts and other items of clothing. Book through the Huntly Summer School website: ww.huntlysummerschool.org.uk
Gayle Chong Kwan: Jules Verne and the Scottish Archetypes / 6 September, The Square, Huntly at 3:30pm In collaboration with Deans Shortbread factory, Gayle Chong Kwan will be taking us through the journey of her work and its relationship to the fantasy, geography and landscapes of 19th Century French novelist Jules Verne. Gayle adopts the role of a traveller to distant and fantastical lands of aesthetic food ideals alongside non-aesthetic food and waste to explore notions of archetypes and remains, what is in excess, left over from, seen as superfluous or discarded. She is working with Deans of Huntly and growing communities in the town to collect recipes and processes, which use waste ingredients and to explore how waste can be reduced in domestic, artisanal and factory food production. Drawing upon Jules Verne's connection with otherworldly travel, landscape, science fiction and Scottish archetypes, Gayle will work with the bakers
of the shortbread factory in the run up to the Hairst festival, as part of the North East Scotland Skills Biennale; a travelogue of 'Wandering Waste' in which she traces a narrative around archetypes and waste, and a series of photographs developed in conjunction with Stills Gallery in Edinburgh. Gayle received a Royal Scottish Academy Residency for Scotland Award to undertake this project. The event will be held at Huntly Farmers’ Market, The Square during the HAIRST Festival as a part of the Aberdeenshire Skills Biennale.
Travel Writing with Mike Carter / Sat 27 + Sun 28 September For all the advances in digital media, the written word remains the most evocative, emotive and entertaining way to capture the experience of travel. As part of our Hielan’ Ways project we are organising a 2-day workshop with Mike Carter, one of the Guardian's main travel writers. His latest book, One Man and His Bike, details his 5,000-mile cycle ride around the coastline of Britain. The course will take inspiration from lands near and far. This weekend workshop is for anyone who wants to learn how to write first-person travelogue pieces to a high standard. Through a series of lessons, discussions and practical exercises, including using great travel writers’ work as a guide, Mike Carter will teach you how to structure a piece, write a compelling introduction, make a place come alive with your writing and avoid common pitfalls.
Dates for your Diary
Book on our website. Watch out for Early Bird prices until 31 August.
Saturday 2 August, 9am-1pm Bajulizi performance by Xenson Farmers’ Market, The Square
Hielan’ Ways Symposium: Perceptions of Exploration / 14/15 November 2014, Tomintoul A 2-Day symposium bringing together walkers and explorers from both the art and the outdoor circuits. Involving a day of walking and a day of talking, the symposium will present the work around the Hielan’ Way project, with artists Simone Kenyon, Gill Russell, Alec Findlay and Ron Brander, and chaired by Prof Tim Ingold, University of Aberdeen. Rounded up with cuisine from Rhynie Woman. The event will also premier the Hielan’ Symphony by Paul Anderson, followed by a ceilidh. Keynote speakers: mountaineer/explorer Doug Scott and artist/walker Richard Long. Friday 14 November: walking symposium Saturday 15 November: talking symposium. Tickets can be purchased through our shop. Early Bird Prices available until 15th September.
Oaks and Amity / In the autumn we will host French artist Caroline Wendling to help us plant an Oak wood with oak seedlings from Beuys’ 7000 oaks, taken from the city of Kassel. We are looking for recruits to help us with the planting and path making in November. Tel: 01466 794494.
Wednesday 30 July, 7.30pm, Stewarts Hall HADTAG Summer Ceilidh Performance by artist in residence Xenson Friday 1 August, 10.30am / 2pm Urbanscape + Ruralsprawl Performative walk around Summerhall, followed by panel discussion at Creative Scotland, Edinburgh
Monday 4 - Friday 8 August, 1.30-3pm Deveron Arts at Huntly Summer School Hip-hop, graffiti, fashion workshop led by artist in residence Xenson, Brander Building Saturday 9 August, 7:30pm, Tin Hut Zizinga-Mu-Choir by Xenson At Huntly Summer School tutors concert Saturday 6 September, 3.30pm Gayle Chong Kwan: Jules Verne & Scottish Archetypes Part of the Skills Biennale at the Hairst Festival, Huntly Farmers Market, The Square Monday 8 - Friday 12 September The North East Open Studios (NEOS) Deveron Arts will be opening its doors as part of the largest Open Studio event in Scotland Wednesday 17 September, 7pm Referendum Quiz: How Scottish/British are you? Saturday 27 - Sunday 28 September Travel writing workshop with Mike Carter A two day intensive travel writing workshop, with Guardian writer Mike Carter, taking inspiration from lands near and far Friday 14 - Saturday 15 November Hielan’ Ways Symposium Perceptions of Exploration symposium on exploring, the outdoors, walking and art, with mountaineer Doug Scott and artist Richard Long
Noticeboard Cultural Health Ask Catrin ... The dilemma: “My son is on his summer holidays and all he does is stay inside and play computer games like Minecraft. Do you have any suggestions for how to make him more active?” Catrin answers: A potential way to encourage your son to become more active outdoors may be to suggest activities that share a common link with Minecraft, or other computer games, such as role-playing games and pursuits that play on strategies of survival and creativity. For the Hielan' Ways project, with the aid of the Huntly Brownies, we developed prototypes for a Recreationally Surviving kit. This included tools for animal tracking, mapmaking, camouflaging, snowshoe making, flyfishing and hiking. Simple how-to-make instructions can be downloaded from the this blog: www.culturalhealthvisitor.tumblr.com Don’t forget that we are part of this year's Huntly Summer School. For those looking to get creative with our current artist in residence Xenson, this is an opportunity to try out printmaking, rapping, hip-hop and creating fashion designs, from the 4th - 9th of August. The Huntly Summer School also offers fun tuition in violin, fiddle, bagpipes, contemporary dance, guitar and much more. Hopefully these suggestions will influence a summer digital detox for your son! Catrin solves problems sent in by you. If you, too, have a dilemma, send a brief email to catrin@deveron-arts.com
Shop New additions Anne Murray and Jake Williams The River Deveron: With and Against the Flow Songbook and map Celia-Yunior Faceloop with essay by Tamas David-Barrett
People Talk Hello Aminder Virdee, Project Intern Joss Allen, Shadow Curator Intern
Good Bye
Business Planning In the last few months the Deveron Arts team, like many others in Scotland, put their heads together for their forthcoming three year plans. We have a question for all art curators and activists: There is a new ‘walking curator’, as opposed to the more conventional ‘sitting’ one. Walking can become the language, strategic tool, and in-between, liminal space for a range of meaningful, unforgettable, and even transformative experiences filled with cultural intent, connecting us with topics or with our distracted, forgotten true selves. Do you agree or disagree with this quote from Ernesto Pujol? Let us know what you think: claudia@deveron-arts.com.
Sanaa Gateja, artist in residence Clare Qualmann and family, artist in residence Camilla Crosta, Shadow Curator Intern
Our Guests Janet Archer, CEO Creative Scotland alongside many other cultural activists from the North East, in April Caroline Wendling, Artist, Cambridge An Talla Solais team from Ullapool in May
Path making event with Gordon Schools
Jason E Bowman, Writer, Curator and MFA in Fine Art Programme Leader at Valand Academy, Gothenburg Violet Nantume, Curator, Ugandan Arts Trust Dr Sarah Worden, Curatror Africa Dept; Scottish National Museums as Shadow Curator for Sanaa Gateja, in June July saw the North of Scotland Ramblers Rendezvous with some 250 walkers from around Huntly; many of them took part in the town collection walk. NDR TV crew with Sven Tietzer from Germany
Haste ye back soon in Huntly toon On the last Friday of the month our doors are open for lunch at 1pm. Everybody welcome to meet us for a hearty meal from the garden and hear what we and our artists are up to!
Opportunities Volunteers / short-term Interns Keep an eye on our website
Contact Us: Deveron Arts The Studio Brander Building The Square, Huntly AB54 8BR, Scotland T: 01466 794494 E: info@deveron-arts.com
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Letter to the Cultural Health Visitor After reading the last newsletter, Joss, our current Shadow Curator intern, sent me this image (above), of a project he was involved in as an example of a creative approach to dealing with dog fouling—the image was taken in Copenhagen. Guess what each flag marks?
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Deveron Arts works with the context and identity of the town of Huntly in Aberdeenshire. Here, the town is the venue, research base, studio, gallery and stage for artists of all fields and from all over the world. Engaging local people and community in topics of both local + global concern, Deveron Arts works through a 50/50 motto, bringing together artis-