A Bonnie Way

Travelling Gallery’s Season 1 2024 exhibition was A Bonnie Way, Unravelling the seduction of the countryside, a group show organised in partnership with Hospitalfield. It toured between March and May 2024.

The exhibition presented the work of three artists, Ufuoma Essi, Bobbi Cameron and Sarah Rose from Hospitalfield’s Residencies programme, whose work explored their experiences of life and conversations in rural and semi-rural place. The artworks were accompanied by an index of community-based publications.

The depiction of Scotland via international travel guides such as Visit Scotland depict this place as a rugged, rural place where stags roam and men in kilts dwell. This exhibition looked to feature the work of artists who are engaging in life and its representation within Scotland and the UK, outside of the central belt and well visited areas of Scotland. These ideas stemmed from Hospitalfield’s location and approach where they were inspired by the beautiful coastal location that wears on its sleeves its industries: polytunnels on local farms line the landscape, military bases double up as beaches to walk on and jobs are bound to the needs to the local area.

Hospitalfield wrote: “In Angus, we know that one of the challenges about living in this region is the feeling of disconnectedness through both physical distance and inconsistent and unreliable public transport. Travelling Gallery has the potential to connect people in rural places through travelling beyond the central belt. Community arts in rural regions thrives and arts centres, organisations and DIY initiatives have been making democratic projects with communities and young people for years. Our proposal is to share the outcomes, zines, photos and ephemera from these projects with each other – reach our audiences and invite them to hear about the questions and concerns of rural communities in each place – how they differ and how they share experiences of boredom and joy.”

To accompany the show a library / index of community publications was collected, including zines, posters, publications, photos and ephemera that had been produced as a result of artists working with communities.  These partners and projects created an Index of rural art projects and an alternative methods of navigating our rural and semi-rural regions. 

Image: Ufuoma Essi, Pastoral Malaise, Film still, 2022