transform weekend saw the world famous John o’Groats hotel being turned into a giant canvas for myself and five other street artists. we descended on the 19th century hotel for a week - the original site of the home of dutch ferryman jan de groot - to turn it into a giant installation, before the venue is redeveloped. the makeover, carried out as part of the john o’groats “transform weekend" event, held on July 2-3, is part of the largest street art project ever seen in the highlands. the innovative scheme was produced by dufi, richie cumming, fraser gray, martin mcguiness and mike inglis. john o’ groats is part of our national psyche - it exists together with loch ness, the forth railway bridge and gretna green as iconic places in scotland. it was our absolute pleasure to play with this idea exploring aspects of childhood which ranged from dufi's playful cubes to the darker aspects explored by myself and the other artists.
the caravans explore my relationship with my father who was never more present than on our many treasured family holidays togethor. his death at 58 was a great shock and im not sure if you can really learn to cope with such an absence. these images beginning trying to explore those feelings. my father died on the last day of the fair fortnight, a traditional fife summer holiday, in july of 1991.
the feral child soldiers explore ideas that link with observations ive made of child soldiers in african countries such as liberia or the congo. these african children are snatched from their families, who are often killed in the process, and brainwashed to fight for causes they dont believe in or understand. a scottish childhood offers no such perils. our children can play innocently at soldiers just as generations before them did, in the woods with toy guns having fun being lara croft or some unknown character from a PS3 black ops game. they simply play. where they share an experience is in their "choice" of brands to wear. they have been "conditioned" to desire and wear the empty lifestyle brands of western mono cultured . perhaps my figures are cultural warriors who "fight" for brands they think stand for something. the figures also wear garments based on the grass weaves that an outsider artist called angus mcphee (gillie and lovatt scout) used to make clothes while he spent his long life in a mental hospital in inverness many miles away from his beloved south uist home - i copied the weave exactly from samples of his work which survived. these weaves are identical to examples found on preserved bodies found in European ice fields dated from over five thousand years ago. i like the ideas that begin to evolve when the two cultures sit side by side like this and are contained within the figures.
John O'Groats Transform Weekend from nick scroggie on Vimeo.
John O'Groats Transform Weekend, video by Charlie from WeeTV filmed for Highlands & Islands Enterprise, for the John O'Groats Transform weekend. This project is part-financed by the Scottish Government and the European Community Highland LEADER and Highlands & Islands Enterprise
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