As a wee boy I was taken by my Granny to a theatre in Edinburgh to see a production of ‘Peter Pan’. Since then I have been fascinated with shadows.
This short film is based on three shadows of myself.
(1) Shadow one: 3.05 am, 2 June 2020, in the hall of Mossgrove, our house [the moon was full and my shadow was cast by moonlight coming through the skylight]
(2) Shadow two: 5.35 am, 7 June 2020, at the grave in Kilslyth churchyard of somebody unknown to me. The inscription had completely worn away but a more deeply carved cross survived and had aged beautifully. The sun had only just begun to rise. The tombstone had the same Mavisbank proportions as the ‘Ageing Stone’ [which is a sculpture that I made long ago and can still be found in our front garden]
(3) Shadow three: 28 January 2019, from memory taken sometime near lunchtime [I recall feeling hungry] in a cave below where Craighall castle once stood. This castle in Fife, and its beautiful den, was a favourite picnic spot in Victorian times. My great-great-great grandfather and his family used to picnic here. John Gordon, my grandfather three-generations back, was born in 1816 as a son of a Deeside whisky smuggler. In announcing his death in 1899 the Fife newspapers reported that he was “familar with every road in Scotland”.
To play this short film please click here or on the image above
Music credit: a cover by The Stars of ‘What Difference Does It Make’ by The Smiths [NP Music]
The wildflower meadow: currently flowering in the wee orchard at the foot of our garden: an example of Nature that has had a little help from a shadow.