IT IS 55 years since his great aunt gifted what was known as Old Pollok estate to the then Glasgow Corporation which led to Pollok Country Park being established.
The Maxwell family home for more than 700 years, the grounds and house were donated in 1966 by Mrs Anne Maxwell Macdonald, with the condition that it remain a public park.
Now artist Alec Finlay finds himself being drawn back to that very site and as were the intentions of the former estate’s owners, that the public should benefit, he too now has a similar role to play in allowing the park to heal and help people through the covid pandemic.
Read more: Scotland's covid memorial campaign appoints artist to work on historic project
The 55-year-old, who himself is on a journey of recuperation as he is living with long covid, has been chosen as the artist to lead the engagement process of The Herald’s covid memorial project. We revealed on Saturday how Mr Finlay had been appointed to the role which will help take the project forward as we strive to create a fitting memorial to Scots who have lost their lives to covid and those affected by the devastating events of the past 14 months.
Artist Alec Finlay is related to the Maxwell family who owned Pollok House and estate
“I never knew the family when they were in Pollok House. I remember seeing my great aunt Anne when she was living in Argyll,” said Mr Finlay. “She was already in her 90s, but a real trouper."
It is through a poignant theme of I Remember, that Mr Finlay wants to reach out to people and develop memories of what they have been through. A series of planned workshops will be held and a live blog, due to launch in mid June, will feature the personal I Remember accounts. It is hoped they will form part of a lasting memorial through a dedicated book while a physical memorial in the park will offer people somewhere to go to reflect.
Artist Alec Finlay who has been appointed to lead the artistic engagement process for the memorial.Picture by Stewart Attwood.
As a way of engaging Mr Finlay will reflect on the pandemic through the ‘I Remember’ texts which offer remembrance for those who died and a communal eye-witness record of the pandemic, nurturing what he calls a culture of recuperation.
"I felt that using I Remember, it is not on me to sum up the pandemic for everyone. Instead I am going to ask everyone to understand what the pandemic is. I think we are only at the beginning of understanding it. I don’t feel like we have a communal understanding. That will take time, so I feel like I am not on my own and that is important."
Read more: Garden of remembrance site revealed on lockdown anniversary as fund reaches £60,000 milestone
Some of examples of I Remember, an idea which has developed from American artist Joe Brainard's book of childhood memories, include I remember how he would always say 'what’s for you will not go by you’ and I remember when I could walk for miles and didn’t and now I wish that I had.
Mr Finlay added: “I am already gathering I Remembers which are telling me things I don’t know. I can tell you about my experience and I can relate to some other people, but a lot of people I can’t. I am the thing that everything will connect through and it will flow through me. Grief needs a slightly wild, reflective space and I didn’t want this to be a performance about what we think grief is or what grieving people want. Grief is a very private process and when I did the organ donor memorial I had this neglected wild space and I made it welcoming, but it was still the most hidden part of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. Maybe we will have something that is very public and areas that are very private.”
A public fund for the memorial has raised more than £60,000
In the past Mr Finlay has created memorial artworks that combine physical objects and acts of remembrance – tying paper wishes on trees, planting tree seeds along the John Muir Way, communal silent walks at National Trust properties marking the centenary of the First World War.
With the organ donor memorial Mr Finlay made a book with the first name of everyone who had given an organ and it was buried. “It meant that I could say to the relatives their loved ones' name was in it,” added Mr Finlay. “It is still part of the work, but it is safe. I like the idea that something can be seen and part of it can be hidden.”
It is not just the location of Scotland’s covid memorial that is personal to Mr Finlay as someone who has had covid and is now trying to recover from it, he is on his own personal journey.
“My experience has been the hardest year and a half of my life, but I have adapted and in adapting I think I appreciate things even more. I also think that by selecting me you are going to give hope to a lot of people who have long covid and who think they can’t be productive and are struggling to adjust.”
To find out more or to submit an I Remember account email iremember2021@yahoo.com
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