2020+1 Programme

Harbour Histories

Illustration by Morag Smith

Harbour Histories is a work undertaken in response to an Arbroath family archive of photographs which capture details of the working lives of Arbroath Fishers on the cusp of change in the sector. Working with Morag Smith, extended family, and other fishers,  the work teases out some of the underlying observations and impacts of being from a modern fishing family.

” I asked dad what he thought of when I asked him to visualise his culture and community and life and he said the boats so I went with that”

A collage of living archive images and words printed onto a long table cloth will invite people to join in a communal physically distanced event.

Positioned at the ‘Fit o the Town’ the communal tables will be strewn with photographic tablecloths, featuring images drawings and words from folk who mark these changes and have something to say about them.

As a counterpoint to traditional ways of representing fishing through song and storytelling, this is a social documentary photographic work which invites the audience to have a seat at the table of a changing industry, to eat their fish and chips or enjoy a chat and a cup of tea.

All spills will be wiped clean!

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