Thomas Joshua Cooper: Along Brendan's Path (2002)
Thomas Joshua Cooper is one of the most significant artists using photography in the classic fine art tradition today. His influences stem from the great American tradition of landscape photography, which aims to record the spirit of the land rather than the place.
For the last 20 years, Cooper has been working on the outer edges of Europe. He has been inspired by explorers such as Magellan and adventurers Columbus and Leif Erickson. For this project he visited those places on Bute which were of importance to the most inspirational traveller of Celtic history, St Brendon the Navigator.
Cooper has created photographs from Bute at the cardinal points of the island; north, south, east and west. The pictures are coloured with selenium on silver gelatine paper. The work is a point of meditation and departure, and brings together Cooper's great loves - Scotland and exploration.