Paul Strand in the Hebrides

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• published: 01 Apr 2016
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Paul Strand visited South Uist in the Outer Hebrides in 1954 and his visit resulted in the book Tir a'Mhurain. This collection of photographs capture a moment in time of rural island community life and the wild open landscape in which they lived. Three of the sitters from the Hebrides series that were photographed as children talk about meeting Strand and their memories of South Uist in the 1950s. Transcript: Uist Transcript John MacLellan (John): I can remember the day that the photograph was taken and us looking out the window and the way it was, we just thought it was some other friend of the family that we were still to meet because we had never heard of Paul Strand. Jean MacLellan (Jean): Land of bent grass, Land of barley, Land where everything is plentiful, Where young men sing songs and drink ale. If I had as much as two suits of clothes, A pair of shoes and my fare in my pocket, I would sail for Uist. Katie Buchanan (nee Mackenzie) (Katie): It was in 1954 and I was one of the youngest ones in Paul Strand’s book. I was only four at the time. It had been snowing and the snow had melted so I was outside testing out my new welly boots and this man comes round and takes my photo. Jean: Mary, the youngest of the family, and this is John, our brother, and myself. I’m just peeking around the curtain. I would have been 10 and John would have been eight. John: We must have got brushed up, we’ve all got our hairs combed and brushed. I think I was fascinated looking through the window. Katie: I was only speaking Gaelic at the time. That was a bit of a hindrance, I suppose. I can remember him putting this black cloak over himself and I was scared of the man because I was young at the time. So he put this head square round my head so that nothing was moving of my hair seeing as I had long hair at the time. Jean: I am the third youngest of 11. It was nice being a member of a big family. Katie: There’s one of the old neighbours and I think that he had even her hands in the book there. They really looked old and weather-beaten. They did all the work in these days. Every housewife had the uniform of an overall on to keep the other clothes they were wearing during the day clean. It was a huge camera I think he would have had. How he was managing to get all this stuff around especially if they were walking most of the time. John: He was the man who would take you in the boat to Eriskay and I think he went to Barra as well. But he was renowned to be a great seaman. If it was difficult to get across, he was the man to get you there. Katie: The grandparents that are in the photo here are Angus and Kate Mclean. It would have been taken on the same day. They weren’t old but as Paul Strand himself says, the weather was showing on their faces. They were always living with us like every old parents were at the time. Well the houses were all thatched and it was over 100 years old when I lived in it anyway. And the small windows and thatch of the 'marram' (long grass) that was taken off the 'machair' (fertile low-lying grassy plain). They were nice and cosy and warm there was only the three rooms in them anyway. The electricity and the water they had come by the late 40s to us. It was a blessing when the electric, I suppose, came. On the Islands there was very little money and very little work of any kind other than crofting and that was all that was going on. As soon as you were able to stand on your own two feet you had to make your way away to the mainland. John: It’s looking back on a totally different era. Because of the way he looked at the world and thought about the photographs in South Uist, he made sure he was going to get the record of the culture as it was. Jean: I treasure this book really for the ones that are in it. It brings back memories.