Helen’s mission to save memories
Art looks at effects of floods on Comrie
Comrie’s Helen McRorie A Strathearn artist used a festival to provide an artistic platform on how to preserve lost memories
The exhibition at Comrie Library by Helen McCrorie used films and archives to explore memories, inspired by those who lost family photographs in the Comrie floods.
The showcase was part of the week-long Platform festival, which drew to a close at the end of last month.
Locally-based Helen explained: “It was an opportunity to reach out to the local community with a new piece of work.
“I was based in the local library, speaking to local people. I recorded some of them and chatted to them about keeping memories and what happens if they lose an archive of memories.
“My inspiration of storytelling in this way was when a local person lost personal family photographs in the flooding in Comrie.
“The flooding had a devastating effect but also a profound effect on the local people.
“It really made me realise the value of community. This person lost family photos in the flood, and that was the thing that upset them the most.
“The flooding is a backdrop to the project. It is such a big part of Comrie’s story now.”
Part of Helen’s exhibition on the Shaky Village’s memories involved posters featuring place names that are no longer marked on any maps.
She said: “The place names came from extracts from a local archivist’s journal.
“It is a list of place names that I didn’t recognise because they are no longer marked on any map and have been built over.
“There are some fabulous, evocative names like Black Planting and Tommy’s Turn.
“It is so important to think about personal and local history and the role local libraries have in storytelling.”
More than 270 people went to the exhibition and contributed their own stories.
Helen said: “It was amazing. Lots of people got engaged and local people came into the library to feed into the project.
“I am really interested in the idea of video making as a social practice Christian Campbell looking at the list of place names and a way of preserving memories. It is a great way of speaking to and listening to people you would not normally get to speak to.
“Community libraries are such valuable spaces to showcase contemporary art and have a discussion around artwork.
“I would like to keep making video work that has come from the project.
“The exhibition itself will lead on to more filming because people keep coming forward with more stories about the personal and local history of Comrie.”
The flooding is such a big part of Comrie’s story now