For Katy
Preface Fowler’s research as an artist is concerned with societal power structures and their relationship to both the individual and the community. From a visual exploration of the battles of Flodden Field and Culloden Moor, to the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and the independence referendum, Fowler’s drawings question the role such events play within the Scottish psyche. However, these drawings also place a timely focus upon figures such as Willie MacRae and John MacLean, as examples of those who challenge the accepted mainstream narratives of Scotland’s ruling elite. This series of drawings has taken it’s inspiration from the graphic works of James Gillray and the writing of Tom Leonard.
Contents The Battle of Flodden 5 The 1978 World Cup 35 The massacre of the McDonalds 7 North Sea Oil revenues 37 The Darien Venture 9 The abolition of the Wages Councils 39 The Highland and Lowland clearances 11 The Housing Act 41 The Battle of Culloden 13 The A.I.D.s epidemic arrives 43 The trial of John MacLean 15 The death of Willie MacRae 45 The force-feeding of John MacLean 17 The opening of the Scottish Parliament 47 The Scots Guards enter Batang Kali 19 The Royal Bank of Scotland collapses 49 Dounreay achieves criticality 21 The Prestwick rendition flights 51 North Sea Oil 23 The release of Al Megrahi 53 The introduction of the Misuse of Drugs Act 25 The Edinburgh Tram project 55 The Misuse of Drugs Act 27 The General Election 57 The problem of self-hate 29 The relegation of Rangers F.C 59 The Upper Clyde Shipbuilders ‘work in’ 31 The Independence Referendum 61 The Barlinnie Special Unit 33 Artist’s Biography 62
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1692
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1698 - 1700
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1730 - 1890
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1746
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1918
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1918
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1948
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1958
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1969 -1988
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1971
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1971
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1970 - 2014
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1972 - 1973
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1973
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1978
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1979 - 1990
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1979 - 2012
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1980
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1981
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1985
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1999
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2008
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2009
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2009
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2009
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2010
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2012
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2014
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Artist’s Biography Fowler was born in Portobello, Edinburgh in 1972. He attended Portobello High School followed by a year studying Fine Art at Cumbria College of Art & Design in Carlisle before completing his first degree in Drawing & Painting at Glasgow School of Art in 1994. He moved to Barcelona to study for a Masters in European Fine Art at the Winchester School of Art. During this time he received the Elizabeth Greenshields award for drawing and subsequently completed a six month guest student residency at the Dusseldorf Kunstakademie where he studied painting with Professor Marcus Lupertz. From 2000 onwards Fowler worked as a lecturer within the Scottish Prison Service, teaching art predominantly at HMP Edinburgh and HMP Perth. He spent two years as artist in residence at Perth prison, where he recorded his experience of working with life-sentence prisoners, in a series of drawings and paintings. This residency resulted in an exhibition at Perth City Art Gallery and the publication ‘The Tension of a Line: A Portrait of Perth Prison’. In 2006 he left the prison service to take up a teaching post at the University of Cumbria.
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In 2010 to 2011 Fowler was artist in residence at the Anatomy and Clinical Skills Department at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. During this time he was given unprecedented access to the Anatomy Laboratory. This resulted in a series of ink drawings conveying the often emotionally charged nature of clinical scenes which the public are unable to access. In July 2013 Fowler presented ‘Scotland The Brave: A Graphic History of Scotland’ at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh. This series of highly detailed drawings appropriates the format of the political cartoon, where in the first instance the drawings aim to present the history of Scotland in an accessible and engaging format. However, the series also aims to challenge the tone and content of Scotland’s mainstream historical narratives and their frequent marginalisation of the troublesome and rebellious.
ISBN 1869979397