Curious Travellers is a collaborative research residency exploring eighteenth-century travel writing with a focus on the Tours of Wales and Scotland by Thomas Pennant (1726−1798). Project artist Eilidh MacKenzie is invited to explore Pennant’s writings and host a workshop with Bun-Sgoil Ghàidhlig Phort Rìgh where together they will shape and share a response to the Tours of Wales and Scotland through the lens of contemporary tourism, language, land mapping, travel, and challenging perspectives of hebrides.
Eilidh MacKenzie is a musician, visual artist and educator from north Skye. She has a deeply-rooted interest in Gaelic culture and local lore, and her work explores aspects of the island’s physical and cultural landscape through printmaking and mixed media. During this residency, Eilidh has undertaken a period of research at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, where she continues to explore transhumance and wider shieling culture and practice in c.18th Skye.
A parallel commission took place in Flintshire with artist Sean Harris and pupils at Ysgol Y Llan. Curious Travellers is a collaborative academic project between the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Glasgow University and the Natural History Museum, London, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
