Opening a 'Window to the West'

The University and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic College in the Isle of Skye, are embarking on a major five-year project which will unite experts in contemporary art, Gaelic language and culture, and art history.

The 'Window To The West' project - a title which refers to Sorley MacLean's poem Hallaig - will explore the inter-relations of visual art and Gaelic language and culture, creating new opportunities for the understanding of Gaelic culture as a key to understanding Scotland.

This unique collaboration is funded by a grant of almost £550,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, one of the largest awards they have ever made to the visual arts. It has been awarded to Professor Murdo Macdonald of the University's Visual Research Centre and Professor Norman Gillies of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.

To date the culture of the Highlands and Islands has usually been approached from the perspective of history or language. However in the last two decades there has been a shift toward serious visual arts engagement with these linguistic and historical issues. This new project aims to take this trend further.

Professor Macdonald said, "This is a wonderful opportunity to rethink imagery of the Highlands and Islands. It is high time we moved on from Landseer-type stereotypes."

Professor Gillies said, "I am delighted that this project has won through and I look forward to building on our ongoing relationship with colleagues at the University of Dundee. This award for research funding comes at an opportune time as we go about bringing plans for a visual arts facility to fruition in developing our new Creative and Cultural Industries building, Fàs. The building will be opened in 2007 to chime with and celebrate Scotland's Highland Year of Culture."

An advisor to the project is the artist Professor Will Maclean, whose work has drawn consistent attention to the importance of Gaelic culture. The project will generate an array of new art complemented and informed by linguistic insights into the expression of the visual in Gaelic. A further dimension will be a written companion to imagery of the Highlands and Islands.

Hallaig by Sorely Maclean, from which the title of the project is drawn:

Tha bùird is tàirnean air an uinneig troimh 'm faca mi an Aird an Iar'

('The window is nailed and boarded / through which I saw the West').