Exhibition  Sat 26th June - Sun 1st Aug

Open Daily  9am - 11pm

Public Space Galleries,

MAC, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham  B12 9HQ

0121 440 3838
 

Click here to view some of the pictures
 

Whilst studying at Salisbury College of Art I was awarded a Travel Bursary which enabled me to travel to the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. While travelling around the islands my imagination was captured by the Standing Stones of Callanish. This ancient site, sometimes described as the ‘Stonehenge’ of the north is situated on Lewis, the largest of the Outer Hebridean islands which lie off the west coast of Scotland. The stones are arranged in the pattern of a Celtic cross. The circle within the cross was the early Celt’s symbol of Bel, their sun god. They called it, The Temple of the Sun or Teampull na Greine. The circle is comprised of 13 stones, their flattened sides facing east and the rising sun. Within the circle is a chambered but now roofless tomb and a 1.2 metre centre stone. An avenue of stones approaches the circle and three single rows of stones join at the remaining cardinal points to form the cross.

Neolithic farmers first erected the stones in 1500 BC. There has been much conjecture but it is impossible to know why these people felt a need to erect the standing stones. Cremated burial deposits have been found in the chambered tomb, suggesting that they may have been erected to enclose a grave or have been an enclosure for religious ceremonies. Astronomical alignments have so far been unsubstantiated but many believe today that it was an astronomical observatory and a calendrial computer.

2000 years after Callanish was erected, St Columbus bought Christianity to the isles. The Celts again erected standing stones but this time in the form of Celtic crosses and grave stones, a continuity with earlier beliefs.

‘Sacred Stone’ is a celebration of Scotland’s prehistoric and ancient past. In these black and white photographs I have attempted to capture the atmosphere, mystery and beauty of Scotland’s many prehistoric sites and monuments. I have been greatly influenced by photographers Edward Weston and Ansel Adams and their promotion of pure straight photography.