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Artful Migration Artist-in-residence announced!

28.2.2023

We’re delighted to announce our Artful Migration artist in residence for 2023!

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Image: Leeming & Paterson
Image: Leeming & Paterson

We’re delighted to announce our Artful Migration artist in residence for 2023!

Dumfries & Galloway based artists Leeming + Paterson will undertake the residency, which runs until Autumn. The residency will enable the artists to spend time on site at Lochar Mosses and explore the elusive Nightjar, one of Scotland's rarest and most unusual birds, which appears to be thriving in the region.

Little is known of the bird’s migratory journey, which provides an opportunity for new research with the project partners, Forest and Land Scotland and RSPB Scotland. The nightjar has secretive behaviour and an almost supernatural reputation, being only visible at night. Leeming + Paterson will observe the birds and their behaviours, explore the threats to the birds, which include habitat degradation and the challenges that climate change is having.

The residency is the third in a programme of three residencies which have been developed by Upland and Moving Souls Dance since 2017. Each residency has offered artists a unique insight into the migratory birds of Dumfries & Galloway through partnership working with local nature reserves and the opportunity to create new, high-quality artworks in response for public display.

Leeming + Paterson’s work explores the landscape and our human interactions therein in the context of climate change and biodiversity loss. The natural world forms the basis of inspiration for many of their collaborative images and projects.

“We’re delighted to be artists-in-residence for the 2023 Artful Migration project. Nightjars are a fascinating species and the source of many myths - their Latin name translates as “Milker of Goats”. In folklore, people believed that nightjars fed on the milk of nanny goats, probably due to their nocturnal proximity to livestock.  The birds make an annual migration from Africa to Scotland and back, and we’re looking forward to delving more into this route and some of the stopover points. As well as the bird itself, we’ll be exploring one of their Dumfries and Galloway nesting grounds, Lochar Mosses." (Ted Leeming & Morag Paterson)