What does Scotland mean to you? The Herald posed this question to media students at City of Glasgow College. Today, we hear from Robbie Murrie, runner up in the photography section, who has looked at Scotland’s new towns. Herald Editor Catherine Salmond said: “This is a powerful and very professional entry. I am fascinated by the history of our new towns, so very much enjoyed Robbie’s observations.”
For me, Scotland is and always will be about community and the people within that community. My aim as a photographer is to visually represent Scotland in my images by looking at people and the spaces they inhabit.
Photography has allowed me to enter communities and meet people whilst making my current project. My goal moving forward is to work across the country focusing on my interactions.
Between 1947 and 1966, Scotland designated five ‘new towns’. These new towns were an ambitious solution to tenement housing and overcrowding issues within Scottish inner cities – Glasgow in particular.
The aim of my project, Polo Mint City, (a name given to new town of East Kilbride due to the number of roundabouts) is to look at the five towns as they are today; telling the story of these towns and their communities through a series of portraits and landscapes.
Whilst researching this project, I realised that many redevelopment projects are being planned, meaning buildings like Cumbernauld's famous town centre will become a memory.
Much of the architecture still in place from conception is of the time, and as such I intend for my work to serve as a bookmark in the towns’ histories. I will capture the people and places as they are now.
With this project, I hope to create an honest portrayal of these once ‘towns of the future’.
Tomorrow: We reveal the work of the winning photographer
READ MORE: What young Scots think of their nation. 'It is a welcoming place'
READ MORE: We have a great wee nation, but we could be so much more
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