Does the outsider, a second generation Canadian looking into what she
knows and has been told of her Scottish heritage have any right to
reduce the culture of the “motherland” to a consumable experience,
object or phrase? Often, as outsiders, we recklessly provide the insider
with notions or assumptions of what the insiders’ culture is. I believe
that Vancouver certainly invites the outsider to make those judgements.
For, does anyone know what this city signifies? Perhaps it was clearer,
or simpler for those immigrating here, during the first few decades of
the 20th century. It was a fresh and young city full of possibilities,
as well as ignorance. What does today’s second generation Canadian need
to identify what their culture is? Should we be content with the
identity crisis and leave it a blank canvas? Do personal relics, stories
and past experiences of one’s family have a role to play in identifying
one’s culture? On articulating one’s culture today, how important is
the past, when we are so detached from it?
This 17 page book of hand-assembled letterpress and lino-cut prints,
along with a collection of pull-out replications of family photos and
postcards, work to bring about a re-examination of what we use to
identify “culture.” The selection of Scots words or phrases in my book
are to describe a language, a vibrant cultural indicator which changes
and grows from generation to generation. Although its meanings change
throughout history, and perhaps get lost over time, language has the
capability to grow, rebuild and unify a culture through collective
memory and family tradition. The illustrated stories of a few Scotch
Whisky brands were inspired by the belief that the drink represents, to
many, an exported symbol of Scottish culture and history. We often
forget that the trading of whisky in Canadian history has cast a dark
shadow over many groups of people. Canada’s relationship with whisky is a
complex one. For, it has caused many irreversible problems for
generations of Aboriginal people, yet it remains a prominent symbol of
Scottish and Scottish-Canadian prosperity and enjoyment. Post-colonial
immigrant populations’ stories, images, languages, colloquial phrases
and utterances, tastes (like a dram of whisky) and sounds like music
enable us to trace and reconstruct a cultural genealogy and prove to us
that we belong, or once belonged to a rich and ancient culture. With
gatherings of friends and family, usually accompanied with a bottle of
something, collections of photos, expressions and stories come out,
which help the next generations map out where they came from. As John
Steinbeck wrote in The Grapes of Wrath (1939), “How will we
know it’s us without our past?” In other words, I believe that the
curation of text and illustrated or photographic imagery in Wirds & Whisky
allows the reader to play with memory and artifact, public and private
experience, which helps to uncover the second generation’s current
position.
This initial stage of the project is made up of an edition of 6
identical books. In 2013, I plan to reproduce them into distribution
editions of 15 to 20. Enclosed in the 13 1/4” x 10” x 3/8” hardcover
edition, which is wrapped in a cotton fabric evoking the texture of a
fathers dress shirt and the colour of Scottish Heather and a typical
“dreich” Vancouver or Glasgow day, are 16 printed pages with 2
Gampi-esque protective sheets and 1 breathing (unprinted) page. The
book’s end sheets are transferred copies of the two departure documents
which my grandfather (1949), grandmother and uncle (1950) were listed,
for their journeys to Canada. The replicated photos and Vancouver
postcard were ink-jet printed with Estisol-transferred anecdotes on the
backs. Every word (18pt and 36pt Cloister metal type) within the
Stab-bound book was hand-assembled by the artist and the whisky
illustrations were lovingly carved into linoleum. The “Wirds” were
collected from family members; Ewan McNeil, Rod McNeil, Alison Hamilton,
Alyson McLellan and Doreen (Dodie) Davidson. Contributed “research
fluid”, whisky facts and stories were provided by the generous and
enthusiastic Marcel Simoneau and his staff at Noorman’s Kil,
Brooklyn, NY. Lastly, a special “Cheers” to the Emily Carr Print
technicians Shin Minegishi and Leslie Urquhart, as well as Beth Howe and
Aimée H. Brown for their support during the making of this project.
A letterpress printed colophon will include some of this text (but will mainly refer the reader/viewer to this project blog for its in-depth analytical explorations and project processes) and will wrap around the book for added travel protection. Stay tuned for further development of this project. For, I doubt it ends here.
Please email me if you would like to see the book in person, or if you would like updates about future exhibitions of my work: jessie.av.mcneil@gmail.com
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