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Tartan, the Scottish check, is a pattern with a message. Originally, it could be used to identify a Scottish clan. Later, the fabric acquired a political charge, as a symbol of Scottish resistance against the British. Bonnie Ogilvie (1994) has a Scottish-Dutch background, and uses tartan to explore her own identity and family history. She approaches the check as a form of portraiture, translating her emotions and observations into unique compositions that incorporate new colours, printing techniques and scanned objects.
The portraits at Prospects centre on Ogilvie’s father. They are compositions featuring personal objects that evoke memories and reveal a sense of time and place. Into one portrait, she incorporated scans of broken plates, adorned with badges, SIM cards and other objects. Ogilvie explains: ‘Like the food left on plates after a dinner party, they become mementos of a moment.’ The other portrait is based on items from her father’s wallet, including a series of childhood passport photographs. Using these images as her point of departure, she travelled through Scotland in search of traces of his youth. In this way, the work forges connections between people, places and histories. At the same time, Ogilvie also regards her work as a time capsule that transports her back to the 1980s, allowing her to quietly participate in a period that preceded her own life. The oversized kilt pin from which the work hangs appears to offer support, both literally and figuratively.
Written by: Esther Darley