Curator of Land and Sport archives, National Library of Scotland

Rachel has an MA in History and Sociology from the University of Edinburgh (2004) and a PGDip in Archives and Records Management from the University of Dundee (2014). She began work at NLS in 2005 and has nearly 17 years of archival experience and knowledge having moved to the Manuscript and Archives Department in 2007. Rachel has significant experience in all aspects of curatorial work, including acquisitions, cataloguing, curating exhibitions, digitisation projects, web writing, archival research, public engagement (both in-person and online), and detailed enquiry work. Rachel’s current remit as Curator of Land and Sport archives includes thousands of photographs, particularly from mountaineers, naturalists and the family and estate papers.

Keeper of Science at Technology, National Museums Scotland

Dr Geoffrey Belknap is Keeper of Science at Technology at National Museums Scotland. He is a historian of photography, science and visual culture in the 19th century and a museum professional with particular interests in participatory practice and digital humanities. Between 2017-2022 he was Curator of Photography and Photographic Technology, and later Head Curator, at the National Science and Media Museum (NSMM). He is currently the primary investigator for the AHRC funded project, ‘Communities and Crowds: Expanding Volunteer Programs Across Physical and Digital Spaces for Cultural Institutions’ which aims to bridge the gap between in person and online volunteering in heritage settings.

Head of Records and Archives Engagement, National Records of Scotland

Dr Charlotte Berry qualified as an archivist in 2001 and has worked in UK local, university, cathedral and business archives as well as in Private Records at the National Archives of Scotland in 2007-2010 and now from 2023 as branch head at NRS responsible for Public Records (Scotland) Act, Archive Accreditation, the National Register of Archives for Scotland, and Archive Liaison and Strategy. She has a PhD in modern publishing archives and translation.

Senior Conservator (work on paper and photographs), National Galleries of Scotland 

Responsible for conserving photographs in the NGS collection since the 1980s. Recently, and with a future move to The Art Works in mind, I have been involved in surveying and calculating space for our fine art photography collection plus a number of archives that fall under our care. The long-term storage of our collections is vitally important, as is access to the collection by the public our own internal research teams. The Conservation Departments remit over the past year has resulted in a heavy focus on the storage and preservation of all types of archive material including photography.

Curator of Photography, University of St Andrews

Laura Brown is the Curator, Photography at the University of St Andrews. Her previous roles have included Curator at Bath Spa University, Head of Learning at the American Museum and Gardens, Assistant Curator at George Eastman Museum, and conservation manager at both University of Rochester and Northwestern University Libraries. She was a graduate trainee at the Image Permanence Institute for two years and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Dayton, a Master of Fine Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Training in Photographic Preservation and Archival Practice.

Curatorial Assistant (Photography), National Galleries of Scotland

Frances Campbell is a Curatorial Assistant in Photography at the National Galleries of Scotland. She studied History of Art and English Literature and has a postgrad in Communication Design from GSA. She has held various museum roles and is drawn to projects about women’s stories, recently working on a touring museum exhibition Extinct Housewives: Women and the World of Work.

Senior Curator of Photography, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Bronwen Colquhoun is Senior Curator of Photography at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. She curates the exhibitions programme for the Museum’s permanent photography gallery and is responsible for the photography acquisitions programme within the Art department. She previously worked as Assistant Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum and holds a PhD from Newcastle University. At Amgueddfa Cymru Bronwen has curated exhibitions including Swaps: Photographs from the David Hurn Collection, Women in Focus, ARTIST ROOMS: August Sander, Bernd and Hilla Becher: Industrial Visions, Martin Parr in Wales and Môrwelion/The Sea Horizon: Garry Fabian Miller.

Senior Projects Conservator, National Galleries Scotland

Kirsten Dunne ACR is Senior Projects Conservator at the National Galleries of Scotland, where she has worked since 2005.  She trained as a Paper Conservator but since 2019 has moved into a new role within the Conservation department which focuses on Time Based Media, Microfading and the application of Technology to Conservation practice. Kirsten holds an MA in Conservation of Fine Art, Works of Art on Paper from Northumbria University and an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh University.

Photographer / Director of Fast Forward / Professor of Photography, University for the Creative Arts (UK)

Anna Fox is a British photographer working for the past forty years and is Professor of Photography at the University for the Creative Arts. Working in colour, Fox first gained attention for “Work Stations: Office Life in London” (1988), a study of office culture in Thatcher’s Britain. Fox’s solo shows have been seen at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago amongst others and her work has been included in international group shows including Centre of the Creative Universe: Liverpool and the Avant Garde at Tate Liverpool and “How We Are: Photographing Britain” at Tate Britain. In 2010 she was shortlisted for the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize and her latest book, “Country Girls”, in collaboration with Alison Goldfrapp is available from Here Press and Setanta Books. Fox is currently working on the research project “Fast Forward: Women in Photography” for which she has been awarded a Leverhulme International Networks Grant and an AHRC (UKRI) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Engagement Fellowship.

Document Scotland | Edinburgh Napier University

Sophie Gerrard is a Scottish, award-winning artist working within the field of photography. Her practice is characterised by sensitive and evocative visual exploration of the natural environment and our relationship to it. Sophie’s work has been published internationally in The New York Times, The Guardian and others. Her work has been shown at Paris Photo, Martin Parr Foundation, Photographers’ Gallery, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Unseen Amsterdam, Fox Talbot Museum an others. Her work is held in private and national collections including The Sir Elton John Collection, The National Collection of Scotland and The University of St Andrews. Sophie has an MA from LCC London, and BA from Edinburgh College of Art. She is represented by The Photographers’ Gallery.

Collections & Research Assistant, National Galleries of Scotland

Alexandra Gow is a graduate in MA History of Art and Philosophy from the University of Aberdeen, where she was awarded the Donal Byrne Prize for History of Art and the John Reid Trust Scholarship. She also holds an MRes in Art Theory and Philosophy from University of the Arts, London, through which she developed specialism in intersectional feminist readings of Modern and Contemporary art. Alexandra currently works for National Galleries Scotland and has just completed a 3-month fellowship in collaboration with Fast Forward: Women in Photography, conducting early-stage research for ‘Enter the Archive’. 

Presentation

In her presentation, Alexandra Gow discussed the work she completed during her research fellowship for Enter the Archive and the collaboration between NGS and Fast Forward. This included her approach to conducting research of this kind as thinking about the archive from an epistemological perspective and analysing it through an intersectional lens. She also shared some of the key findings of this research, looking at how Equality, Diversity and Inclusion functions within the NGS photographic archive at present, and what barriers need to be addressed to diversify the archive and conduct further research in this area.

Director of Stills: Centre for Photography, Edinburgh

Ben has been the Director of Stills: Centre for Photography in Edinburgh since 2014. His curated exhibitions for Stills have showcased work by artists and photographers such as Anna Atkins, Lewis Baltz, Jo Spence, Cindy Sherman, Ishiuchi Miyako and Markéta Luskačová. His programme has provided a platform for photography from Scotland as well as the presentation of dedicated displays on the holdings of public and private photography collections and archives. From 2003-13, Ben was Curator of Contemporary Art for Glasgow Museums. From 2007-12 he was Lead Curator on Glasgow’s Art Fund International collecting project.

Head of Heritage Collections (Research & Curatorial), Co-Director for the Centre for Research Collections

Daryl is the co-lead of the University of Edinburgh’s Heritage Collections, a multi-sector team which preserves, provides access to and interprets a broad spectrum of cultural heritage collections, including: institutional archives, rare and early printed books, fine art and museum objects, historical musical instruments, personal papers, literary manuscripts and archives, photographs and born digital objects and archives. He has worked extensively with historical photographic collections in this role and previous roles, but is, by training, a historian of early book culture in Scotland and the UK.

Presentation

Daryl from the University of Edinburgh spoke briefly about the ongoing work to define historic collecting strengths of documentary photography in the collections. This work has then led to an awareness of a widening gap for the working archives of documentary photographers working in Scotland from the mid-70s to late 1990s. Daryl briefly presented on some recent acquisitions and the work on bringing in the archive of Tom Kidd.

Archivist in the Private Records, the National Records of Scotland  

Lindsey Kennedy works in a team that looks after the records of charities, businesses, societies, former nationalised industries, family papers and the Church of Scotland.  Kennedy currently works to promote EDI issues within the archive and raise awareness of staff exposure to distressing content. She has previously worked as an archivist in local authorities, universities and for a charity. Lindsey Kennedy studied History of Art where she developed research interests in feminist art and photography.

Interim Co-Director Collection & Research, National Galleries of Scotland

Anne Lyden is currently the Interim Co-Director for Collection & Research at the National Galleries of Scotland. Previously she was Chief Curator of Photography and prior to coming to National Galleries of Scotland she was a curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles from 1995-2013. Anne has curated numerous exhibitions and is the author of several publications. In 2024 she will take up the appointment of Director General for the National Galleries of Scotland. 

Archivist, Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre

Catherine MacPhee is an archivist working in the Highland Archive service, she has a deep connection to the land and people and feels a responsibility to preserve and record tradition. She is involved in a range of community-based cultural initiatives across Skye and Lochalsh. Programming events, workshops and collaborating with artists, researchers and communities, to both learn from the history of the area and reimagine its future. She is passionate about helping communities discover ways to make impactful change on issues relating to social injustices, climate, and land rights by reconnecting them with their culture and heritage.

Presentation

Catherine MacPhee introduced the Highland Archive Service which conserves and protects the culture and heritage of The Scottish Highlands and Islands, 15,000 square miles of rural and urban landscape. Focusing on her place of work, The Skye and Lochalsh Archive centre. An Archive, Gallery, a community gathering space, which has been under the Highland Archive Service for 14 years. Discussing photographic collections held across the region she raised questions about who captures a community and the relationship between photography and identity. Exploring the representation of Gaels in visual culture and the impact of historic collections on our perception of culture, history, and the identities of the individuals who appear in them can all be influenced by photographs.

Highlighting the lack of investment in digitising and cataloguing women’s photographic archives held under her care giving examples of projects pulling these out of the archive and back into community. Raising questions on who has access and how collections are used is like a ball of string, you pull at one thread and hit another knot, question. In Skye she collaborates with a range of artist, academics, individuals, and community groups. These collaborations have varied from community films using archives to explore climate and the future of Skye to exhibitions on String and loss of traditional skills. Curating and hosting multiple exhibitions per year.

Sharing various examples of engagement with communities, individuals sharing of stories at events adds not only to an archive but to women’s resistance and history. Although comprising slightly over half of the human population, women have never achieved parity in the archives. Their stories, perspectives, and activities seldom receive adequate attention from male-dominated political, academic, intellectual, and social institutions and discourses.

Women can be found throughout our collections, but their narratives are often harder to find. Individuals, artists, and academics are working to reclaim the voices of women and address these historical imbalances, to represent an inclusive history of everyone.

Legal Counsel, National Galleries of Scotland

Claire Martin is the National Galleries of Scotland’s (NGS) in house lawyer. She has been with NGS for 5 years and prior to that, worked for an Edinburgh law firm for approx. 20 years. She provides NGS with legal support and advice including negotiating and drafting a wide range of contracts for NGS.

Artist

Wendy McMurdo works primarily in photography and has a specific interest in experimental forms of photographic production. She has published several exhibitions exploring the impact of computation on our collective identities and her work has featured in a wide variety of international exhibitions including; The Anagrammatical Body: The Body and its Photographic Condition, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, Uncanny, Fotomuseum Winterthur and Only Make Believe  Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK. She has been commissioned by several of the largest photographic agencies in the UK including The Photographers Gallery, London and Ffoto Gallery in Wales. In 2018, she was named by the Royal Photographic Society as one of the Hundred Heroines  – an initiative to ‘showcase the best of global contemporary female photographic practice and reflect the amazing diversity of methodologies and approaches of different generations of women working within the medium’. She is based in Edinburgh.

Archivist, Modern & Contemporary Art, National Galleries of Scotland

Kirstie Meehan is Archivist (Modern & Contemporary Art) at the National Galleries of Scotland. She cares for the archive and special books collections – which comprise over 150 archive collections relating to artists, collectors, gallerists and arts  institutions and more than 2500 special books – and makes them accessible to the public and researchers through outreach, exhibition and loan. She regularly curates displays using this material (including Point / Pinch / Punch: The Surrealist Hand, on display at Modern Two until 7 January 2023), in addition to contributing archive material to major exhibitions.

Presentation

Kirstie Meehan gave an overview of the activity centred around the National Galleries of Scotland Archive. She discussed NGS’s ambitious exhibition and loan programme, and addressed the ways in which NGS is trying to widen access to the archive through innovative outreach activity. Like many other repositories, NGS faces challenges in caring for the collection with insufficient storage and a small staff, but she discussed the opportunities provided by The Art Works, a future storage and access facility for NGS in the north of Edinburgh. She also focused on the evolution of NGS’s acquisitions strategy, with a focus on diversifying representation through collecting

NHS Lothian ARBD After Care Co-Ordinator, CARDS, Rowan Alba

Catherine first started volunteering with CARDS in 2020, which led to her current role with the organisation. She is also a student on the Professional Doctorate of Psychotherapy and Counselling at the University of Edinburgh. Her background in social care and mental health has led to an interest in community-based care and advocacy. Currently she is researching loss through a creative collaborative writing group. Before moving to Edinburgh in 2019 from New Jersey, Catherine worked as a public relations manager across several industries for eight years.

Photographer

Margaret Mitchell is a Scottish photographer whose work ranges from exploring communities and children’s worlds through to projects on the individual and society. Bridging the psychological and the social, her work explores the intricacies and complexities of people’s lives with a particular emphasis on place and belonging. She has exhibited widely, and her work has been recognised in a number of awards. Her book ‘Passage’ (Bluecoat Press) was published in 2021 and asks questions on the nature of disadvantage and privilege. Work is in the permanent collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Martin Parr Foundation and Stirling University.

Presentation

Margaret Mitchell discussed the development of her work from idea to exhibition, focusing on responsibility, accurate representation, and ethical practice. She emphasised the influential power of photography, the intricacies of long-term projects, and the relationships and connections cultivated with those she photographs. She reflected on ethical considerations in portraying the human condition, the trust and responsibility inherent within her work and how she ensures fairness in her processes.

Using four projects as examples, she explored questions such as who gets photographed, how they are represented, the methodology in that work, and how legacy can be created for individuals from across all social backgrounds. Universality of themes, such as identity, belonging and mortality were introduced within broader social and political contexts.

Mitchell highlighted her role in challenging stereotypes and contributing to a more balanced representation, particularly in projects where lives unfolded along trajectories influenced by powerlessness. Within this she aims to present authentic insights into people’s lives and invite audiences to learn, reflect, and interpret. She also discussed dissemination of her work, accuracy to a project’s intentions, and how photographers and archivists could work together to ensure, for example, relevant background text is provided when work enters archives.

She also discussed the extensive research accompanying a number of her projects and how it facilitates the emergence of multi-layered narratives. She concluded by re-emphasising the responsibility inherent in portraying others’ lives and outlined key issues artists can address to ensure ethical practice. Finally, she asked us to reflect that the recording and presenting of ordinary people’s lives contributes to a rich social history.

Conservator, National Records of Scotland

Eva Martinez Moya is a paper conservator working at the National Records of Scotland Conservation department. She graduated from the University of Granada (Spain) with BA (Hons) in Conservation and an MA in Preventive Conservation from Northumbria University. She has worked in both the public and private sectors, moving from paintings to paper and photography conservation. Since joining NRS, she has worked extensively on its photographic collections developing a professional interest on all aspects of conservation and preservation of photographic materials. She has attended training courses and conferences in the field of photographic materials conservation nationally and internationally.

Operations Manager at the National Collection of Aerial Photography, Historic Environment Scotland

Rachel Nordstrom serves as Operations Manager for the National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP), at Historic Environment Scotland. She oversees the preservation, digitization, cataloguing, and monetization of a vast repository of 30 million military and survey photographs spanning from WWII to present day. With her background in photographic history and collections management, drawn from previous roles at the University of St Andrews Library and Museums, as well as the Fox Talbot Museum, Rachel brings a new strategic focus to NCAP. Rachel’s vision for the archive extends beyond collection care and management; she’s committed to finding broader applications for these archives unlocking the historical and scholarly potential embedded within aerial photography.

Curator (Photography), National Galleries of Scotland

Louise Pearson is a curator of photography at the National Galleries of Scotland. In 2020 she was awarded an Art Fund grant to increase diversity in her institution’s photography collection through a project based around Scotland’s census. Louise has previously held positions at Royal Collection Trust and the National Library of Scotland.

Research Manager

Ailsa Roberts is responsible for NGS’s research strategy and priorities. She has over 20 years’ experience in research management in the heritage and academic sector. Prior to her role with National Galleries of Scotland Ailsa was the Research Manager at Tate for over 9 years. Prior roles include Senior Research Administrator (University of Arts London), Section Administrator (Imperial College London) and Department Administrators (University College London and Royal College of Art).

Freelance teaching artist

Sam Rutherford is a digital artist living in Edinburgh. Her work encompasses socio-political themes and is driven by current events. She is passionate about enabling community groups to have their voices heard and sees the arts as the perfect platform for this, with over 20 years of experience as a teaching artist she is at her happiest working in partnerships.

Chair of The Inverness Darkroom

Matt Sillars was Director and Chair of FLOW Photofest for 6 years, running 3 international festivals across the Highlands, Islands and Moray (2015-2021). He voluntarily curates the photography exhibition area at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness. He was a Board Member and Director of the Scottish Society for the History of Photography for 3 years from 2015.  Matt taught photography at the University of the Highlands and Islands, specialising in the impact on culture of the still image. He Chairs the Inverness Darkroom, which has over 50 members, specialising in analogue photography. He exhibits his own work nationally.

Outreach Coordinator, National Galleries of Scotland

Ailbhe Turley works in Outreach for the Learning & Engagement department at the National Galleries of Scotland and is a current PhD candidate in Archaeology at the University of Glasgow. She has a varied background in museums and archaeological fieldwork internationally, and community engagement through the arts and creative learning in Scotland. Her work at NGS involves designing and facilitating socially engaged creative learning and engagement programmes with inclusivity and accessibility at their core.

Presentation The Archive – Through Whose Lens?

Addressing representation of communities who might rarely – in the past and in the present – get a say in how they have been pictured and seen.​

Ailbhe works in outreach and community engagement for National Galleries Scotland. In this presentation, she explored the intersectional barriers that inevitably arise when attempting to authentically represent all womxn in the archive.

After a day of critical discussion and discourse-in-theory around knowledge construction, this talk focused on practical next steps towards more inclusive and equitable practice- both in interpreting the archive as it exists currently, and radically changing practice moving forward.

It addressed the inherent power imbalance that often presents in community engagement between large, national organisations and smaller institutions with less resources and clout – charities, grassroots/community and advocacy groups (with specific examples discussed from experience). Community engagement can often present as “a good opportunity” for small organisations, an opportunity to access experiences, resources and a platform they might not usually otherwise. However, larger organisations also significantly benefit from these interactions, though perhaps in a less obvious way – whether it be reputationally, meeting funding criteria or access to voices of lived experience not represented within the organisation. 

Therefore, this presentation posed a set of questions to the audience, under the general concept of ‘ethical entanglements’ – when engaging community groups, what is truly being asked of participants, why, is it worth it (art vs life) and how tangibly can barriers to removed before work begins, not as an afterthought.

The message of this presentation was in essence a call to action, primarily to large organisations who can lead meaningful and widespread change by example – to reflect, critically self-analyse and do things differently. Individual practitioners can only bring things so far, therefore systemic cultural and policy change needs to be platformed and driven by national institutions. Bottom lines were focused around budget, time and the rigidity of existing institutional process – to do better, we need to be ready for change.