Saturday 3 October, Gracefield Arts Centre from 11am

As part of the current exhibition at Gracefield, In Land, The Droving Project hosts a day of lively talks and participatory discussion around pastoralism, transhumance, shepherding, dwelling in the environment, walking, farming, our relationship with large, now domesticated, mammals and the impact of cattle on Scottish culture.

The day will feature 4 international and local speakers to create a fascinating forum for discussion about global farming issues and some of the ideas raised by The Droving Project. We would love to hear your experiences or views on any of these matters and look forward to welcoming local stories and contributions to this event.

The speakers are (from 11am – 4.30pm):

Pernille Gooch, Associate Professor in Human Ecology at Lund University, Sweden. Her ‘At the Tail of the Buffalo’ centres on the relationship between pastoral nomads and the forest in the Himalayas. Her chapter ‘Feet Following Hooves’ features in ‘Ways of Walking’, edited by anthropologist and Jo Vergunst.

Verdiana Morandi, Italian shepherdess from the Venetto mountains in the Alps. Representative of European Shepherds Network and World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples http://wamipglobal.org/?p=1  

Janet Grigor, Gaelic singer and researcher into droving and cattle influence on Gaelic song, author of the new book Ri Luinneig mun Chrò (‘Singing a ditty at the cattle-fold’). 

Wilma Finlay, Managing Director at Cream o’Galloway and instigator of their farming revolution and ethical rearing of cattle http://www.creamogalloway.co.uk/

This event is free and visitors can attend any one or more of the talks but please book in advance by calling Gracefield Arts Centre on 01387 262084. Morning coffee will be served and lunch is available to purchase at Café Hubbub.

The Droving Project is a mixed media exhibition and project about a contemporary cattle drove in Dumfries & Galloway which is produced and co-curated by Katch Holmes. Featuring photographs by Jerwood Photography Award 2008 winner Alice Myers, film from Stevie Whiteford, text from Catrina Davies and sound design and music from Nick Jenkins, Pete Smith and Gareth Griffiths. The cattle drove in the summer of 2014 re-traced drovers footsteps with real life cattle along an ancient drovers route out of Knockengorroch farm in northern Dumfries & Galloway across the border into East Ayrshire to Bellsbank, where they would have stopped off on their way to market in Ayr. The relationship between Scotland’s people, their land and their cattle stretches back many hundreds of years. The  project looks at the significance of walking with cattle, as humans have done throughout history and still do throughout the world.

The exhibition provides a backdrop to this subject by looking at the changes in farming methods and practices throughout recent history, and is illustrated by work from contemporary artists, archive images from across Dumfries & Galloway, and selected works from the Gracefield Permanent Collection.

For further information contact: Kate Davies (Arts Officer)

Telephone: 01387 262084 e-mail: kate.davies@dumgal.gov.uk