ANGIE TURNER
Having recently moved into the area, Fife has become my muse. For the past year my work has been based in the rich history of the Kingdom.
Subjects are diverse, from Fife’s travelling fairgrounds to the history of salt production. The common link through my work is the exploration and research process of places and themes. I aim to rekindle the past through my work and by doing so forge new relationships between the audience and the subject or place.
J. Leckie Proprietor will be located in Tanage Close - a red light shining and the imprints of a prosperous interior rooted in the history of Cupar’s brothels. There were two brothel keepers in Cupar’s records of occupations (ref. Cupar: The History of a Small Town by Paula Martin, Birlinn Ltd. 2006 page 83). Janet Thompson or Leckie was a notorious ‘bawdy house’ keeper in Cupar in 1768. This work derives from the seedier history of Cupar. The installation will change during the day/ night by the lighting of a red lamp in the evening. Day-time visitors only have the imprints left over, after the removal of interior effects.
Dis Close is in Bonnygate, with its shedding paintwork revealing names and images of single mothers and the men they accuse of abandonment from Cupar and Fife in the 1800’s. The theme builds on the recent increase of interest in tracing ancestors and the exposés that sometimes surface. Dis Close is based on the Cupar Sheriff Court Aliment Decrees, 1830 - 1854, which show all the logged cases of women filing damages for abandonment in Victorian times.
As well as those two main locations, I hope to produce small works throughout Bonnygate and the Mercat Cross area - ‘imprint’ signs created to reawaken memories of the past shops and merchants of Cupar amongst the towns residents.
All artwork created has been developed in response to visits to the locations and research into Cupar’s history. This work has been developed and produced specifically for Cupar Arts Festival.
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