The Kildas
In March I travelled to St Kilda in New Zealand and Melbourne as part of a Commonwealth 20 for 14 project with Creative Scotland. You can follow progress of the project HERE

Her main areas of interest are the people of present day St Kildas. There is no ‘Saint’ Kilda (It is said that a Dutch cartographer wrongly named the Scottish Island). Deirdre would like to celebrate contemporary ‘Saint’ Kildans and create a series of crafted awards which celebrate people/‘saints’ she meets along the way. The project links both past and present, north and south and the people who inhabit the Kildas. It is hoped the project will present contemporary insight into St Kildas rather than the often over romanticised view of the Scottish island. 

'More than 4,000 people visited St Kilda Scotland last year – a fourfold increase in ten years – including passengers from 20 cruise ships.”The challenge is keeping that intangible quality that everyone gets when they go there. Its the sense of place, the atmosphere”, says Susan Bain, the NTS Western Isles officer. Scotland.  She adds: “Perhaps it has come to symbolise all the evacuations from islands, but St Kilda is dominated by the evacuation and I think its a shame it’s what it is known for: the time it was struggling and failed. For thousands of years it thrived and people were successful, yet its history is dominated by its last gasp.” via  The Scotsman