CLAN is showing in Gallery 1 at Perth Museum and Art Gallery for the duration of the Royal National Mod, from Friday 8 October until Saturday 16 October.

During 2003, the Highland Festival joined forces with Orange to explore whether the clan system still has relevance in the Highlands of the 21st Century.  In this major project entitled CLAN, sponsored by Orange and already the recipient of an Arts & Business New Partners Award, the Highland Festival has attempted to discover who the new clans are and asked questions about their geographical boundaries, the role of the new ‘chiefs’ and why they exist. 

Brotherhood, community, and identity are just some of the defining features of clans explored in CLAN, which can be seen in Perth Museum and Art Gallery during this year’s Royal National Mod from Friday 8 until Saturday 16 October.  Through photography and photo-collage installations, CLAN examines the emergence of contemporary clans in the modern-day Highlands and the social, cultural and geographic factors that bind them together.

Twelve 21st century clans are represented in the exhibition, which was commissioned and organised by the Highland Festival for the 2003 event.  Director of the Highland Festival, Alastair McDonald, photographer Fin Macrae and photo-collage artist Gordon Davidson identified six key areas of the Highland cultural landscape – arts, language, heritage, sport, science and the environment – as recognised by the invernesshighland bid to become European capitol of culture in 2008  and set about finding two example clans from each.

Clans chosen to represent the diversity of the Highland population range from the Mountain Rescue Service in Cairngorm and Dundonnell to the Surfing Community in Caithness, and from a group of young Goths to the 51st Regiment of the Territorial Army.

Fin Macrae’s arresting black and white portrait photography provides a subjective viewpoint, while the photo-collage artworks that Gordon Davidson assisted clan members themselves in producing gives the viewer a unique insight into their daily lives.  Displayed together, they capture the essence of contemporary clans in the Highlands.

Fin was charged with capturing the essence of the clans while Gordon focussed on encouraging the active participation of the clan members.  Fin said, ‘My inspiration for CLAN was coming upon a group of Goths in Inverness and realising that they represented a clan of sorts with a structure based on the traditional clan system.’ 

Gordon added, ‘ In attempting to capture the spirit of these new clans, I felt photo collage and its ability to involve folk directly through taking photographs and using them to make collages as an ideal way of enabling the clan members to produce a visual identity for themselves, a way of saying what they represent.’

The resultant exhibition, has been touring throughout Scotland since the 2003 Highland Festival including a stay at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery with additional support from The Highland Council’s Exhibition Unit and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. 

Director of the Highland Festival, Alastair McDonald said, ‘It’s fitting that CLAN should finish it’s Scottish journey at the Royal Nation Mod in Perth, which would not have been possible without the support of Orange, the project’s sponsor.  The extended tour has enabled a wider audience than was originally envisaged to enjoy these vivid and thought provoking photographic images, which certainly set the heather alight during last year’s Highland tour. ‘

In explaining why they have chosen to sponsor the Highland Festival and particularly CLAN, Pip McLennan, Orange’s PR and Sponsorship Manager in Scotland, said, ‘with improved infrastructure and communication channels, people are changing the way in which they live and work, no where more so than the Highlands. We are interested in giving communities a voice and wanted to explore how this works in the concept of the clan structure.’ 

As the world shrinks towards becoming a ‘global village’, the need for strong communities with recognisable identities becomes increasingly important and nowhere is this more apparent than in the Highlands.  The CLAN exhibition adds to this debate.

The Museum is open Monday to Saturday 10.00-17.00 (closed Sundays). Admission is free.

CLAN is sponsored by Orange, with additional support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Arts Council, The Highland Council and Arts and Business Scotland.