The Isle of Arran in western Scotland, started for us as a mythologised place, its rugged landscape and hillside crofts, overlaid with vivid memories and stories about life on the island.

We went to Arran for the first time in 2021, to visit Hannah’s grandfather's croft, the one he was evacuated to during WW2. This became the starting point for us to form our own relationship with the island and its residents, one that has taken shape over the 5 years of the project.  

The project explores how elusive connections to a place can be, and how an imagined version of a location merges with its reality. 

Arran emerges through the lives and experiences of those who call the island their home, residents of Arran shape the island, just as it shapes them. 

Bonds reveal themselves gradually over time, and the relationship between the islanders and Arran is made visible through the artworks they have created, and the animals they tend to, the landscape they cultivate, and the artifacts they leave behind.