Men & Beasts

About the Book: 

Come and meet some wild men and tame beasts. Explore the fleeting moment and capture the passing of time in these portrait studies which document a year's journey. Travel across Scotland with poet Valerie Gillies and photographer Rebecca Marr: share their passion for a land where wild men can sometimes be tamed and tame beasts can get really wild.

Among the wild men they find are a gunner in Edinburgh Castle, a Highland shepherd, a ferryman on the River Almond, an eel fisher on Loch Ness, a Borders fencer, and a beekeeper on a Lowland estate. The beasts portrayed in their own settings include Clydesdale foals, Scottish deerhounds, Highland cattle, blackface sheep, falcons, lurchers, bees, pigs, cashmere goats, hens, cockerels, tame swans and transgenic lambs.

Reviews: 

Goin aroon the Borders wi Valerie an' Rebecca did my reputation the world o good. It's no often they see us wi beautiful talented women, ye ken. WALTER ELLIOT, fencer and historian

These poems are rooted in the elemental world. ROBERT NYE, reviewing The Chanter's Tune in The Times

Valerie Gillies is one of the most original voices of the fertile avant-guarde Scottish poetry. MARCO FAZZINI, l'Arco, Italia

The work of Valerie Gillies and Rebecca Marr is the result of true collaboration based on insight, empathy and generosity. JULIE LAWSON, Studies in Photography

Rebecca Marr's photos never fall into the trap of mere illustration, but rather they show a very individual vision - creative interpretation rather than prosaic document. ROBIN GILLANDERS, photographer

About the Author:

VALERIE GILLIES is an award-winning poet with seven books to her name. Best known as the river poet who followed the Tweed and the Tay from sourse to sea, she has held writing fellowships at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, in East Loathian and Midlothian, and at the University of Edinburgh. Her poetry has been published internationally and translated into Italian and German. She teaches creative writing in schools, colleges and hospitals. Valerie lives in Edinburgh with her husband and children. Rebecca Marr is a photographer who was born near Beauly. She has worked in the highlands and in Edinburgh and the Lothians on photography commissions and her black and white photographs have been widely exhibited. Her commercial work has been used by theatres and newspapers, and in music promotion. As a sessional artist, she works with groups as diverse as mental health, HIV and AIDS, Attention Deficit Syndrome, and drug rehabilitation. She traveled accross Scotland with Valerie to capture this collection of portraits of men and beasts at home or in their own settings.

REBECCA MARR is a photographer who was born near Beauly. She has worked in the highlands and in Edinburgh and the Lothians on photography commissions and her black and white photographs have been widely exhibited. Her commercial work has been used by theatres and newspapers, and in music promotion. As a sessional artist, she works with groups as diverse as mental health, HIV and AIDS, Attention Deficit Syndrome, and drug rehabilitation. She traveled accross Scotland with Valerie to capture this collection of portraits of men and beasts at home or in their own settings.