Documenting 1920s-40s Scottish Highlands and Islands life: M.E.M. Donaldson, Jenny Gilbertson and Margaret Fay Shaw

This 35 minute presentation was given at University of Stirling Film and Media Department, at the invitation of Dr Sarah Neely, as part of their Communications, Media and Culture Research Seminars series. This seminar was a double bill focusing on the history of women photographers in Scotland, with my presentation delivered alongside Dr Alistair Scott, (Director, Screen Academy Scotland, a Creative Skillset Film Academy,Associate Professor, Film & Television, School of Arts and Creative Industries), Edinburgh Napier University, who spoke on Franki Raffles Archive. The presentation was a 35 min talk, on Jenny Gilbertson, M.E.M. Donaldson and Margaret Fay Shaw’s work, where I explored if these three women offered a different reading on the landscape and communities of the North from their better known male contemporaries. By referring to archival sources, alongside their film, photography and literature outputs, I presented their aims, methods and examples of their work. I concluded with showing other lines of enquiry within the research that include contextualising their work with other national and international practices of that period