Sarah Edge – Traces of Traces: An Exploration of the Albums of William McKinney
Exhibition @ Fort Dunree 11th June – 24th July
The bond between Inishowen and Scotland is particularly rich – from a heritage of shared ballads to language to family ties, from Scots people who came to settle in Ulster, to Donegal migrant workers and emigrants travelling back and forth between Inishowen to Scotland. Artlink’s exhibition at Fort Dunree during EAF 2011 is a fascinating insight into how an early Ulster photographer played his part in the forging of an Ulster-Scots relationship. In this exhibition the contemporary artist photographer Sarah Edge make a new series of photographs looking at the photography collection of 19th century Ulster photographer William McKinney (which contains hundreds of fascinating personal 19th century family images and studies of rural workers and rural scenes). Sarah Edge’s new work looks at the visual traces that the William McKinney has left behind at his ancestral home in Sentry Hill, County Antrim which can work as clues to us unpicking his intentions within his own photographs. Alongside this exhibition and as part of her Artlink darkroom residency Sarah Edge will run a series of workshops for young people that will use personal family photographs to investigate aspects of their own personal identities.
