IN 2020, not long after the passing of one of Scotland’s greatest-ever creative minds, the Alasdair Gray Archive was created to document the polymath’s working life and provide resources for further generations to retain contact with his outstanding output as an artist and writer.
Earlier this year, as a section within that archive, the Agnes Owens Archive was established to provide the same assuredness to the legacy of a similarly great mind, and close friend and collaborator of Gray.
Passing away in 2019 and 2014 respectively, Gray and Owens were two of the most potent writers of the 20th and 21st centuries in Scotland.
Gray’s Lanark (1981) stands among the greatest of Scottish novels, and Poor Things (1992) is set to be released for the big screen, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Owens’s A Working Mother (1994) is one of the most astounding documents of domestic life in Scotland, and Gentlemen of the West (1984) addresses working life, pub culture and adventure with the deft touch of a master.
The two famously worked with Booker Prize winner James Kelman on a collection of short stories, Lean Tales (1985), an outstanding example of collaboration within their careers.
As part of the projects, two budding artists were commissioned to respond to the works of Gray and Owens within their own mediums, led by the custodian of both of the archives, Sorcha Dallas. The result, Synthesis, was presented at Nicolls Gallery on Dumbarton Road in Glasgow last month in association with the Glasgow School of Art.
Within the exhibition, the work of Hayley Jane Dawson and Holly Allan provides a stunning accompaniment to, and reflection upon, the creative works of Gray and Owens.
A number of fascinating installations lined the walls of the space, even utilising a mantelpiece.
Everywhere there are traces of the two influences in the works of Dawson and Allan, confidently securing the success of the exhibition as a project not only displaying the works of two contemporary artists, but also presenting a legacy of Gray and Owens within Scotland’s latest crop of talent.
Allan states that the collaboration and the project as a whole “has been a dream”, adding that she “found it really comforting having Alasdair as a sort of anchor – and that although [she] never knew him and although he couldn’t answer [her], he has such a strong presence and voice throughout all his work that [she] kind of felt like [she] could be guided by him to a certain extent; like a kind of posthumous gauge”.
This sort of communication across time through work is the exact intention set out by Dallas at the inception of the exhibition. She said: “The Alasdair Gray Archive reflects this in using the material assets we have as a source of opportunity for others and allowing creative responses to Gray and now Agnes Owens’s work. This is essential to keep their works relevant but also in making these archives generative.’
Allan’s centre-piece to Synthesis was a tile-and-type rendering of a phrase written by Allan in the style and famous font of Gray: “Have sympathy for those less generous than you.” It’s evocative, as Allan notes, of much of the narrative of Gray’s Poor Things in which the concept of “poor” is subverted from its standard to emphasise the morality lacking in the wealthy within the novel.
Dawson’s work with ceramics wonderfully captures the likeness of Owens and several facets of the everyday life that inspired her writing: a clock, a library, a pair of shoes. This normality, the engagement with the everyday and public spaces addresses that, as Dawson states, ‘the stories of the working class in Scotland absolutely need to keep being told.’
The exhibition is tied together by another work commissioned by The Alasdair Gray and Agnes Owens Archives, an astoundingly visual and informative layered text by Zohra Iqbal and Maisie Wills, highlighting the strength and power of creative collaboration.
The greatest strength of this exhibition was, as Allan highlights, that ‘the work really opened up a dialogue stretching through time and reminded [us] how vibrant Glasgow’s creative community is.’
Going forward, both the Alasdair Gray and Agnes Owens Archives intend to produce many more equitable opportunities for creatives to engage with the work of the two cult figures. The careers of Hayley Jane Dawson and Holly Allan can be followed on their respective Instagram accounts: @decafdyke and @pestobillionaire
