Contemporary Scottish Art and the Landscape of Abandonment

Scottish art is defined by viewpoints formed from within and outwith the regional boundary. Within the Scottish national boundaries southern migration defines Scotland's modern history. One of its legacies is a type of Scottish melancholia that indicates a grievance sometimes bound up with myth and nostalgia easily associated with ‘old’ landscapes. In the annals of Scottish art southbound Scottish travellers, in particular towards London, generally seek career gains. Northern-bound cultural travellers moving within the region's boundaries and, mainly English, migrants moving northwards and sometimes settling are an interesting counterpart to this better-known diaspora. What do they look for? What distinguishes northernness as a quality in a Scottish context? How do real or imagined representations of northernness from within and outside Scotland's communities differ?