The Living Archive
The development of the Barn Project has highlighted that there is little written/preserved history of the community here despite a rich and interesting past.
Brìgh: stories in stone seeks to unearth the nearly forgotten memories of the barn itself, Inchree, and surrounding area, through research, outreach and engagement with the community.
We aim to explore our ancient landscapes, Gaelic roots, agricultural past, and forgotten industry in particular but will be open to new discoveries and histories along the way. It will be important to record our findings and develop ideas around how the barn can symbolise and celebrate them
Brìgh: Stories in Stone
Brìgh: Stories in Stone is an art project organised through the Inchree Barn and the Nether Lochaber Community Association with Ali Berardelli who is building a ‘living archive’ for the Nether Lochaber area.
Ali has been thinking about stone and has spent time exploring Onich shoreline finding geological features using video and photographs along with her sister-in-law, Chiara, who has recorded sounds around the location. Ali remembers the shoreline in Onich from her teenage years spent living in the old school and frequent visits by geology groups. Reflecting on this Ali has said;
“I knew that the Onich shoreline was an important place geologically but as a young person it was more important to me socially - time spent by the water, exploring the different shaped stones, the view down Loch Linnhe to mountains beyond, walks and talks with friends, bonfires and parties. Revisiting this place and looking at the rocks through the camera lens has been really interesting, the wide variety of features and the contrast of their place right by the road, the A82, with thundering traffic, nonstop movement. In one place we found a slate that has been captured and held within the branch of the tree as it has grown up through a spoil heap of the old slate quarry."
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Ali would love to gather more information on the geology of the area and would welcome any contributions to the online Padlet for the project: Click on this link and add any photographs, anecdotes or links that you think may be useful.