Suzy Gray - Photographer

I moved to Skye in 2001. As a photographer I wanted to find something personal to work on that portrayed the Isle of Skye, and that was different to the typical landscape photographs we see. Up until then I had always worked with film, mainly black & white, medium format, enjoying the slow process of creating the image, first in camera and finally in the darkroom. Digital photography was beginning to reach a more comparable level and I was keen to experiment with the versatility of my first digital camera.

Bus shelters are found around the world, everyday objects used by millions daily without a second thought. However in a sparsely populated area, such as Skye, where buses are less frequent and natural forces more dominant, bus shelters play a more significant role in life and culture. I became fascinated by them and intrigued by their mundane uniformity, individualised only by their content and immediate surroundings. As I looked around these shelters, I increasingly realised the visual potential of the subject matter. There are donated seats, rubbish, graffiti, public notices, advertising of local events such as ceillidhs, and evidence of use by residents, visitors and even crofters’ farmed animals. All these things give a curious insight into the life and culture of the island.

Gallery 2
An Tuireann Arts Centre
Portree · Isle of Skye
01478 613 306
www.antuireann.org.uk
June 10th –July 29th 2006

I am sharing this 7 week show with Patricia Shone, a ceramicist, also from the Isle of Skye, who is showing in Gallery 1 with “Path: towards the iron well”.

Both of us have an installation as the centrepiece to our shows. In my case it is a bus shelter that has reached the end of its useable life, and has been faithfully resurrected in the gallery, complete with all the marks of many years life – graffiti, weathering, posters, nearly broken but useable seats and rubbish.

In the spirit of the subject, the show can also be seen throughout Skye! I have large A3 images in each of 15 bus shelters spread across the island, and I am encouraging exhibition visitors to see as many of these as possible. Have a look at “the poster” section below to see where they are all located.

To coincide with the exhibition I have produced a series of 3 hand made, concertina books. Take a look at “Hi Sexy” for full details of these special books.

The poster shows the location of the bus shelters which have images from the exhibition.
Click below to see photographs of the shelters with images and posters.

Click below to see more images from the books

This is the first public showing of “Sheltered”. It has evolved quickly into a large range of work that can be edited and sequenced in different ways. I plan to tour the exhibition not only in the Highlands and Islands, but also in the cities of Scotland and maybe further afield.

I continue to photograph bus shelters and add to the portfolio, this image was made within the last few days: