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Tuesday, October 24, 2023

The Emigrants

The Emigrants is the name of a statue at Helmsdale, on the east coast of the Highlands, created by Gerald Laing and unveiled in 2007. 

It is a statue in bronze, of a family leaving Scotland, setting out for Canada after having been cleared from their home in the Kildonan area.

It is a reminder of the horror of the Highland Clearances, but also a reminder that many families left and created new lives in other countries, and contributed enormously to the growth, development and culture of those places.

But I find it achingly sad.

The father/husband is looking out, bravely facing the future, setting out for anew life full of bold hope. His holds tight to him, following his father on this venture, whilst the mother/wife cradles her baby, looking back. Her head is turned, her foot pointed backwards, as she surveys all that she is leaving. All the support  for her children and all that she knows, as she heads to an unfamiliar land. I think of just how hard that must have been.

We visited it again recently and it moves me still. This photo was taken in the morning when the sun was out, the rest of them were taken the evening before as the grey cloud covered everything and the mist was coming in.


Her face is so thoughtful, so considered. That baby, so tiny.



The sculptor has done such a good job of creating a sense of movement, and of the wind. The wind howls and blows there I can confirm.


This angle I think shows the disconnect between his potential experience and hers...


And I love how the sculptor paid attention to her dress, and made it interesting and lovely. She wasn't dressed in rags, meant to be grateful that she was getting an opportunity to move somewhere else. She was a  woman with good clothes and was leaving all that that meant behind.

 
And that foot. Anchored to her place, her home. Not wanting to leave yet knowing she must.


It is a beautiful and poignant piece and each time we visit I notice something different. This time it was her dress. But each time, I am moved, and feel achingly sad for her and so many women like her, being forced from their homes and leaving so much behind.

4 comments:

  1. I didn't know about this statue but it's story is partly true of my family history: my great-grandparents emigrated to Canada from Scotland but their tiny baby was left behind in a cemetery... They settled in Vancouver but their eldest son went to the Yukon in the 1930s and when she came to visit us she was always quiet, with a lingering sadness. She told me once the Yukon reminded her so much of Scotland that it was hard to visit, especially after her husband died...years later I went to the small town they left from, Tillicoultry, and it indeed feel like home. I'm going to find this statue someday, thank you for this beautiful post.

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    1. What a moving story Jillayne; how that lingering sadness persisted, that ache for the baby left behind. I can imagine how the sense of a place can evoke the memories of a home left behind. I just looked at where Tillicoutry is and cannot believe that we drove through it en route from Edinburgh to Glasgow. We were headed to a collectables shop in Alva, the next town! oh my goodness. The Hillsfoot villages. Amazing. Helmsdale is up high on the north east coast, but a beautiful place and I hope you get there one day. Go well and thank you.

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  2. The figures and faces are so striking and haunting.

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    1. What the sculptor managed to capture in her face is quite incredible I think, and the way he placed each figure gives the statue so much. Go well.

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I appreciate your thoughts and comments; thanks for taking the time.