Exposure
A project by Deveron Arts
The starting point for both Exposure and the wider Homage to George MacDonald festival was asking ourselves what is the relevance of George MacDonald today? He certainly is Huntly's most famous son who enjoyed great popular success in the 1860s and 70s, having inspired acclaimed writers such as Tolkien, Enid Blyton and C.S. Lewis, and yet is now virtually unknown even in his hometown. Academics and scholars wouldn't hesitate to refer to MacDonald's acclaimed writings as a genre defining pieces of Victorian writing. In the same way, religious historians would refer to his rigorous and critical assessment of the Scriptures, often resulting in engrossing sermons giving way to challenging doctrinal positions. But does MacDonald have any relevance for the people of Huntly today?
The answer is yes. Let's remember MacDonald not only as the Victorian writer or the protestant minister, but as a person, one of the sons of Huntly. As an arts body, with its leitmotive 'the town is the venue', Deveron Arts was not interested in creating a George MacDonald Festival with a hard line academic slant. Instead we were keen to invite storytellers, artists, academics and town folk to celebrate the life and work of this fascinating 'Huntly-ite'.
As a kid MacDonald played in the streets of Huntly, going out into the fields around Ba'Hill, absorbing the atmosphere the same way we all would do. Whatever happened to MacDonald in his youth, it stayed with him. It is clear from MacDonald¹s writings that growing up in Huntly had a long lasting affect on his life, for he referred to it continuously, as a setting for his fantasy novels.
“How much should I like to spend a winter at home again, a snowy winter, with great heaps and wreaths of snow; and sometimes the wild storm howling in the chimneys and against the windows and down at the kitchen door. And how much I should love to spend one long summer day in June, lying on the grass before the house, and looking up into the deep sky with large white clouds in it. And when I lifted my head I should see the dear old hills all round about; and the shining of the Bogie, whose rush I should hear far off and soft, making a noise hardly louder than a lot of midges... And then the warm evenings, with long grass in the field where the well is, and the corn craik crying craik-craik- somewhere in it, though nobody knows where.”
MacDonald in a letter to his half-sister Bella, Arundel, 19 Jan 1853
MacDonald¹s life provides us with some knowledge about growing up in a small town and, as we imagine, it would have been something like this: the early years spent playing outside, the growing interest in books coupled with the cunning capacity of 'not appearing too brainy', and eventually the momentum when he is compelled to leave to pursue his 'broader' ambitions.
George MacDonald (like many other famous, less famous and anonymous sons and daughters of Huntly who left) helped to establish the name of this small North Eastern town beyond the borders of Aberdeenshire, Scotland and the UK. Together with his feats as a writer, and as a minister, George MacDonald must be remembered as the proud 'flag bearer' who disseminated the name, culture and habits of Huntly in faraway places. Symbolically he can be seen as representing the people who left the town in the past, who are leaving it as I write and who will leave it in the future for the most varied reasons.
To see people leaving is common and a characteristic of small and big towns echoed throughout the world and the high esteem with which they view their roots is something to be cherished. The response from the community to a press call by the Huntly Express and national media was incredible. On 3 March 2007, the day of the total lunar eclipse, over 200 families and individuals flocked into the school (some for the first time in decades) to get their photograph taken. Amongst the chance encounters, there was the opportunity to hear about George's life and his works, listen to his stories, watch the animation The Princess and the Goblin, buy a book from the MacDonald Society and, at the end, watch the moon during the dedicated folk song night.
The connection between MacDonald and the school through Exposure is simple. To invite the pupils and their families (spanning three, or even four generations) to a photo shoot was a way of getting a snapshot of the Huntly community in 2007 and at the same time bring everyone back to one of the few places where all, rich and poor, clever and clumsy had spent some time together.
People came from all parts of Scotland and abroad to take part in what could possibly be the largest family/school photograph ever. Others, unable to come back from faraway places like Canada, South Africa and New Zealand were represented by a George MacDonald dummy head.
Nuno Sacramento