Output details

The Unknown

‘The Unknown’ in Borgie Forest, Sutherland is an experiment in the nature and the conventions of public art. Not only is it remote, situated far from a public as conventionally conceived and its meaning deliberately ambiguous, it has also been generated by the artist rather than through commission, as is the case in most works of public art.

Beginning with a Creative Scotland Award in 2007, this project was developed to represent the various aspects of Highland and Scottish identity expressed through the notion of the 'Outcast’, and so the idea of a journey away from the urban centre to see the work was integral. Various locations for the work were researched. ‘The Unknown’ overlooks the Strathnaver and Borgie Glens, the site of one of the most traumatic of the highland clearances; and the ruins of cleared villages, like Rosal, overly Neolithic, Iron and Bronze Age traces of inhabitation.

Beyond this tangible human history supernatural stories are told about this landscape, featuring ghosts, monsters, seal people and two giants whom, it is been said, fought and threw boulders at one another at the mouth of the Naver river. ‘The Unknown’ has been conceived not just in response to this oral tradition, but as a trigger to its extension in further stories. Collectively, the history, geography and current use of this area will affect the reading of this artwork, making evident the relationship between nature and human activity.

The process of conceiving ‘The Unknown’ has entailed building relationships with North Sutherland Community Forestry Trust, Tongue Community Council, the Forestry Commission Scotland, Highlands ad Island Enterprise, Creative Scotland, Highland Council and Strathnaver Museum. Timespan Museum and Arts Centre, a hub for contemporary art projects across Sutherland, supported Hunter in achieving this work. ‘The Unknown’ was launched in October 2012.