MARY DONALDSON:

Lesser-known English photographer Mary Ethel Muir Donaldson was a key documentary photographer for the small communities of the Scottish highlands in the early 20th century Donaldson, who preferred the title MEM or ‘Herself’ (a Scottish term of respect for a lady in the highlands), went against the norms. Her motive was to follow up on her roots and help the people of the highlands. She was not only a photographer but an author publishing around seven books of her findings. MEM has been labelled as an unconventional ethnographer, capturing disappearing aspects of rural life during this time [Wikipedia, 2022] She was among some of the first ethnographers to photograph the traditional way of life in the highlands of Scotland that eventually vanished between the first and second world wars [OrnaVernum, 2022].