About this artwork
Kelp has been collected and used as fertiliser along Scotland’s coasts for centuries. But from the 1760s through to the late nineteenth century, an economy thrived around the burning of seaweed to make kelp ash for industrial bleaching of linen and manufacture of glass and soap. Gathering, drying and burning kelp was gruelling work with low wages. Kelp workers sheltered in small huts constructed of stone and turf such as those in this photograph.
Published May 2022
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artist:George Washington Wilson (1823 - 1893) Scottish
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title:Kelp Makers' Huts, South Uist
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date created:1860s - 1880s
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materials:Albumen print
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measurements:19.00 x 29.10 cm; mount: 26.50 x 35.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:The MacKinnon Collection. Acquired jointly with the National Library of Scotland with assistance from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government and Art Fund
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accession number:MMK.01594
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gallery:
George Washington Wilson
George Washington Wilson
A hugely successful businessman, George Washington Wilson had left home at twelve to be a carpenter and subsequently trained as a portrait painter before turning to photography in 1853. By the 1860s he owned printing works in Aberdeen that produced thousands of prints with views from all over...