Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022 Project: The Disappeared Village

Held in collaboration with Moray Libraries, this exhibition and series of events took place between February and March 2022 at Elgin Library.

The exhibition focused on a village on the South shore of the Moray Firth which was destroyed and abandoned as a result of the Great Sand Drift of 1694. While there are scientific and natural explanations for the disappearance of the village, stories of myth and legend about the people, land and events that unfolded have shrouded Culbin in mystery. This exhibition uncovered these mysteries and retold the many stories of Culbin, the disappeared village, in new and creative ways including exploring environmental, maritime and coastal aspects in addition to history, heritage and legend.

The exhibition drew upon materials from Moray Local Heritage and Archives collections and from Robert Gordon University's storytelling projects (i.e., StoryTagging, a project that involved grants to small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to bring stories to life). The 'Disappeared Village' comprised of the 3 SMEs creating works based on the Culbin story: a series of paintings; a podcast; and a series of pin cushions. These materials engaged audiences with the stories of Culbin through a physical and digital exhibition. Physical panels detailed the stories, archive materials and creative works and were complimented by QR codes to access further information as part of a complimentary digital platform. Digital displays (including ipads and TV monitors/ projectors) were also available and allowed people to listen to the stories, find out more about the SME’s creative work and interact with digital resources related to Culbin.

‘The Disappeared Village’ exhibition responded to the theme of 'New Stories' by exploring how the lesser told stories of Culbin can be reimagined through creative practice.

See http://www.culbinstories.com/ to explore the creative responses to Culbin, including art and a podcast by Stories of Scotland https://www.storiesofscotland.com/.

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