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Intended to be displayed in a local museum setting, this work questions the false certainties with which historians and scientists present their ideas about discoveries. The small island of Eileann An Tigh in Loch Nan Geireann on North Uist is thought to be the location of the first commercial pottery in Europe, a conclusion drawn on the basis of very little fact and much assumption amid conflicting facts.
Museums often present possibilities as probabilities or near certainties which are then taken as facts. The willingness of people to believe as true that which is printed enables such places to write their own narrative based on the knowledge and experience of those involved, but in so doing excludes or makes less valid all other possible interpretations and explanations. It is this lack of openness to other possible perspectives that causes such division and conflict in our society. The water in and around the Western isles has both helped to preserve and uncover much evidence of those who have lived there in the past. However these objects rather than helping us understand the history simply reveal how little we know about the culture and lifestyle of our ancestors in ancient times. By placing these modern ceramics in a museum setting and presenting them as archaeological finds, the interpretation of other objects in the museum is bought into question, enabling the viewer to use their imagination to write their own narrative for the objects presented. |
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