Everyone has their ups and downs.
But East Neuk visual artist Scott Morris took his inner-mood to a whole new level when he set up and took a self-portrait photo of himself every day for a year.
It was Hogmanay 2011 when he came up with the idea for the ‘Twelve month and a day’ project the name inspired by the fact that 2012 was a leap year.
He was feeling particularly down at the time and wanted to do something that would “gee myself up and motivate myself”.
The result was 366 photographs giving a snapshot of whatever mood Scott happened to be in at the time.
And now the project has helped win him a four-week placement as artist-in-residence on Iona, starting on Sunday January 17.
“The ‘twelve month and a day’ project started due to my dislike of having my picture taken and a desire for change in my life, “ explains Scott, 57, of Anstruther.
“The daily routine of picture taking helped to give my life a structure and purpose that had been missing for a period.
“The images were created in-camera, un-cropped and no digital effects allowed, however contrast and exposure could be adjusted.
“Each photo is a visual representation of my day, heightened for artistic effect. The resulting images while showing my personal dark and light sides also have a universality and can strike a chord and bring forth memories and experiences for the viewer.
“Looking back over the years images, I am surprised at how much which had seemed to change, remains the same. I hope that my humour is also visible shining through the year like a beacon.”
Born in Hong Kong where his St Monans-raised dad John was in charge of a boatyard, Scott spent most of his younger years in Dunfermline after his dad started work at Rosyth dock yard. After studying biological sciences at Napier in Edinburgh, Scott worked as a technical sales rep, a seafood factory production manager, was self-employed as a wood turner and was a countryside ranger for 13 years at Crombie Country Park in Angus.
He dabbled with primary school teacher training around 16 years ago, but following the end of his marriage, and a period of unemployment, he gave this up and established himself as a visual artist based at Ovenstone in the East Neuk.
Scott was pleased with the reaction he got when the Twelve month and a day project was showcased at the Pittenweem Arts Festival last summer.
But it was the death of his mum Isabelle, from Cellardyke, and his dad John in 2013 and 2014 respectively which inspired him to apply for the project in Iona, using the Twelve months project to win him the place.
“From this Sunday I’ll be staying in a shepherd’s bothy on Iona for four weeks with no running water or cooking facilities. For that I’ll be using the nearby youth hostel.
“My project will use analogue photography, and part of the reason for that is that when I was going through mum and dad’s stuff, I found a lot of old photographs, taken and handled by them. In this digital era, many peoples’ pictures don’t ever leave the hard drive. It got me thinking about analogue methods and how in future, many people won’t even have photographs to handle.”
Scott will be using an old 5×4 wooden field camera with a picture taken each day to reflect how Iona makes him feel. As well as that, to go with each picture he’ll write a haiku (a traditional form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines).
He adds: “I’ll use a photographic technique, dating back to 1834, where I take Atlantic seawater, boil it, dilute it a little bit, put it onto water-colour paper and let it dry. Then in very low light I coat the paper in silver nitrate that makes it photo-sensitive. Exposing the negative to UV light then gives me a salt print. The 28 prints and haikus will be bound into a book, and later this year I hope to exhibit the works at Ovenstone back in the East Neuk.”
Scott is receiving £750 of taxpayers money for his project through a Fife Craft & Visual Artist Project Grant (supported by Creative Scotland and the cash-strapped Fife Cultural Trust and Fife Council). He is self-funding a further £750 to pay for equipment and materials. He believes his grant is justified and looks forward to producing a valuable creation.
However, he does not agree with the controversial decision by Creative Scotland to award £15,000 to Dundee-based artist Ellie Harrison, who plans to live and work in Glasgow for a year to examine the effect confining herself to one city will have upon her artistic career, which came under fire last week.
Scott adds: “It’s interesting what she is doing, but I’m sure a lot of people in Glasgow living in poor circumstances will be angered that she is being paid to ‘recreate’ their lives. Art should have an effect on people. I don’t think what she is doing should be funded by the taxpayer.”