Foregathered wi' the beast

Since the loss of wolves in Scotland in the 18th century, the Highlands have experienced a steady ecological decline. In a lay-by of the A9, two miles north of Brora, stands a stone that marks the place where the last wolf in Sutherland was killed, by a hunter of supposedly great esteem called Polson. An account of the event was published in William Scrope's 1838 book, The Art of Deerstalking. In 1924 the 7th Duke of Portland, one William Cavendish Bentinck, erected a stone to mark the place where the last wolf in these lands was finished.

My thought was to make a new stone, one that would address the Polson stone from across the lay-by and offer an alternative version of events- a memorial to the last wolf, a lament, a protest, a hope for the future.

The guerrilla act of making and installing a stone that speaks directly into the space left by the wolves aims to challenge the story that has persisted for three centuries, remake the legacy of wolves in Scotland and mark the place for what it is- the start of the demise of the Highland ecosystem.

Foregathered wi' the beast is the documentation of this protest performance, made in collaboration with action reeve media