Day of Access, by Stirling Photography Festival

Day of Access is a collaborative project led by poet and artist Alec Finlay that uses the creative philosophy of place-awareness to offer disabled people access to beautiful landscapes across Scotland. The project creates new partnerships with public and private estates, parks, and heritage bodies (Historic Scotland, John Muir Trust, Paths for All) Promoting the healing effect of access , Alec's events bring together disabled participants, experienced local guides, and writers experienced in place-awareness, to offer innovative outdoor events and workshops for the disabled. In this talk Alec, will outlne the aims of Day of Access to promote the healing benefits of such activities.

Working with Alec on his pilot Day of Access in June 2019 was local student photographer Sam McDiarmid. Sam accompanied Alec and his group to Shiehallion, where he documented the event and he will share his images and his thoughts on the day during the talk.

Following their talk, there will be an optional walk in the University campus to explore and perhaps photograph Alec's Bee Books installation. Please come prepared for the weather, and expect walking on paths and undulating ground. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

This event is free but please register via Eventbrite.

Alec Finlay (Scotland, 1966-) is a poet & artist whose work crosses over a range of media and forms – poetry, visual poems, poem-objects, sculpture, collage, audio-visual, artist blog, and new technology. Much of Finlay's work considers how we as a culture, or cultures, relate to landscape and ecology, with a specific interest in place-awareness, hutopianism, rewilding, and the common right to care for the land. He is also known for his political and social activism. Since 2005 he has also produced a number of books and artworks that engage with renewable energy.

Finlay established morning star publications in 1990. A retrospective of his publishing was held at The Poetry Centre, University of Tucson in 2018 He has published over forty books and won six Scottish Design Awards, including two Grand Prix Awards (2001, 2015). Recent publications include a far-off land (2018), gathering (2018), th' fleety wud (2017) minnmouth (2017), A Variety of Cultures (2016), ebban an’ flowan (2015), and Global Oracle (2014).

Day of Access Image © Sam McDiarmid