Blue Macaskill Studio

from january 2008 to january 2009 the artist blue macaskill was given access to the collections of the national library of wales at aberystwyth. her response to this treasure trove of images and information was to create a series of digital photographs that play with notions of historicity, memorabilia and nostalgia. a library is first and foremost a repository of knowledge but until relatively recently libraries were perceived to be primarily the domain of scholars and the ‘bookish’. national collections such as those housed at aberystwyth were deemed to be off-limits to those outside academia. in recognition of this the national library adopted a more open door policy and is now actively seeking to entice the public to sample its collections. as artist in residence macaskill’s response to challenging these assumptions of exclusivity was to focus on the photographic collections and the fascinating magic lantern slides, playfully extracting elements of the past and digitally re-appropr