In Dumfries and Galloway, Commissioned Artists t s Beall and Katie Anderson worked with communities to collaboratively design and plant The Dispersed Memorial Forest across the region. The artists began working with communities in 2022, exploring how to remember and honour those impacted by Covid. Between July-December 2022 (Phase 1), the artists brought a sculptural Tree of Remembrance to seven public events across D&G, including Wigton Book Festival, Stranraer Unexpected Garden Festival, The Kirkcudbright Light Festival, and the Dumfries Rood Fair.
The artists also hosted more intimate postcard-making workshops and conversational events with community groups – including NHS staff, young people with special needs, New Scots, unpaid carers, and others who were not well represented through the larger public events. These activities were designed to encourage people to share their experiences, and to help decide the shape of D&G’s Covid Memorial.
In workshops and conversations, the artists spoke to approximately 835 people from Stranraer to Sanquhar. Through those conversations, people across D&G shared their experiences and ideas for what shape or form the Covid memorial might take. The artists then created a bespoke set of Conversation Cards with the ideas and experiences gathered, and shared these with individuals and groups to help identify and refine a proposal for the Covid memorial.
From all of these events, activities, and conversations, three key elements for the memorial emerged: The Dispersed Memorial Forest, a series of Tree Planting and Community Gathering events, and an Archive sharing stories of loss and resilience from across the region. The artists asked what people wanted to remember about lockdown, and what they wished they could forget or let go off. Some of their answers, collected as a series of postcards, are inscribed into the sculptural markers that are installed on each forest site.
Learn more about the project: Phase 2
