Session 1 of 5 – Beginning the Journey
Witch! Restoring Elspeth & the Women They Tried to Erase is a five-part creative community journey of Research, Reflection and Restorative Remembrance. Together we’ll explore the life of Elspeth McKewan and the women accused of witchcraft in the Glenkens through archives, landscape, genealogy, oral history and creative practice.
Together we’ll ask: How should a community remember well? Working as community co-curators, we’ll explore how these stories might be creatively represented and shared with dignity, historical integrity and local ownership, considering a range of possibilities for Restorative Remembrance that reflect the people, places and communities connected to them.
Our journey begins by uncovering Elspeth’s story through original archives, and poetry with Ros Ollin. Together we’ll explore what is known, what remains uncertain and the questions that will guide our shared enquiry over the coming weeks.
Facilitated by: DJ McDowall – Creative Director, The Imaginarium + The Gallovidian Way // Ros Ollin – Poet, Researcher & Author of Restoring Elspeth. Part of Pride of Place Dumfries & Galloway.