OUTSIDER SHRINES
This 6 month In-Between Dunfries based Artist Residency examined what has been lost in the hope of identifying what it is in a thriving community that counts for spirit and perhaps tentatively begins to put something back in place that celebrates what is lost, forgotten or indeed simply neglected. One outsider shrine explores and celebrates outsider art and the holistic value of creativity. The research process which informed the building of this shrine began by examining the rich archives of patient art from the Crichton psychiatric hospital which is housed in Dumfries. The other physical shrine commemorates one of the darkest episodes from dumfries' past when in 1659 ten women were accused of witchcraft by the dumfries kirk session and brutally executed. The project also saw the creation an arterial network of wheatpaste shrines celebrating contemporary outsiders throughout the lanes and vennels that feed the main shopping and community hub of Dumfries. images © colin tennant
