Nigerian artist Ayô Akinwándé discusses archive project for Highland News and Media local newspaper
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ARTIST Ayô Akinwándé has gone back in time to provide three living documents which allow people to reflect on Huntly’s history.
Using archives of The Huntly Express, the Nigerian artist has reproduced stories, articles and poems from the local newspaper’s 159-year history.
Ayô delved into the archives – which are stored in the Brander Library building – during a short-term commission with Deveron Projects in 2021.
The end result is a fascinating insight into the history of the paper and the town since 1863 and produced in the shape of three publications designed and printed in the style of the newspaper.
He returned to the town last Friday to deliver a talk to the Friday Lunch in Square Deal and launch the Town is the Archive project.
“We constantly think about the future but archives are data from the past and for me, any chance to go into archives is a great way to look back,” he said.
“Archives fascinate me. When I am in an archive room it is like being an archaeologist, you are digging up the past.”
Ayô was in Huntly when Covid restrictions were still in place, so was unable to fully share his archival project at the time.
“For me it very important for people to have a sense of ownership and participation in the archives.
“People should be able to go to the library and engage with the archives, so for me this is not the end, this is just a means for people to be interested in the bigger things in the archives.
“Poems from The Huntly Express could be compiled into a publication and could be used for students. The language was really different from now.”
Ayô believes a project to digitise the archives would open them up to a whole new audience, and help maintain the life of the local newspaper, which now has its own App.
“I like to read people’s stories which can be very personal. In bigger papers, the stories can become statistics and lose the human touch.
“I think that’s what makes the Huntly Express very powerful because it is the history of the town. It has been a brand for more than 150 years.”
Ayô admits it was something of a culture shock to come from Lagos, a city with a population of more than 15 million to Huntly, a small town in Scotland with fewer than 5000 inhabitants.
However, he embraced everything about the town and that is why poems, particularly written in Scots and Doric, captured his imagination and he included many of them in his archive project.
Ayô has travelled the world through his art, including Montreal, London, Zurich, Munich and Edinburgh.
Content editor with The Huntly Express, Chris Saunderson, also gave a brief talk to the Friday lunch, and explained the decision to loan the archives to the town in the safe keeping of the Huntly Development Trust five years ago.
The newspaper will celebrate its 160th anniversary next year.
Ron Brander, a local historian and archivist, has spent years researching through the archives of the Huntly Express, and did much of the background research when the paper celebrated its 150th anniversary. He attended Friday’s lunch.
The Huntly Express has a new reporter, Sarah Roger, who has taken over from Pat Scott who retired earlier this year after 44 years with the local paper. Sarah has a base at the Orb’s Community Bookshop.
