Calum Colvin's Ossian: Fragments of ancient poetry (paperback)

Colour illustrated paperback featuring Scottish artist Calum Colvin Ossian photography series Ossian. He is one of Scotland’s most innovative and exciting contemporary photographers. In his work he creates a fantastic kaleidoscope of figures, symbols and ideas, which are blended into the most vibrant and stimulating images. With this new project Colvin has explored the mysterious world of Ossian. Ossian, a third century Celtic bard, was first ‘discovered’ by James Macpherson in the middle of the eighteenth century. Macpherson, himself a poet but also a cultural entrepreneur and an adventurer, published the ballads of Ossian in the years after 1760.

Through the ideas and associations inspired by Macpherson’s Ossian he has produced an extraordinary discourse on national identity, ‘authenticity’, and the human psyche. It is characteristic of Calum Colvin that he has successfully explored these difficult themes while simultaneously creating the most accessible, exhilarating, and provocative photographs.

Printed in the United Kingdom