Kenny Allan

Born in Newport-on-Tay, Fife, Scotland in 1965, I was given my first camera at the age of 10 years old. And, so from that young age photography became an integral and ever-present part of my life.

In 2016 I challenged myself to create my first comprehensive collection of work, capturing the beauty of abandonment within our landscape that has been left behind. This series of work became ‘Life After’.

I presently live in Largs on the idyllic west coast of Scotland.

BA(Hons) Graphic Design
Coventry University 1988

Life After
2017 The Hollies, Tighnabruaich, Scotland
2018 The Barony Centre, West Kilbride, Scotland

‘Life After’ began life in late 2015 after discovering an abandoned torpedo testing site on Loch Long. Intrigued, I decided, throughout 2016/17 to challenge myself to move away from the landscapes I had previously been capturing, and strip away preconceived and stereotypical notions of beauty, grapple with this new subject, lifting the stone to see what lay beneath.

From Neolithic burial chambers and ancient domestic settlements, to grand Victorian villas scattered along our coastline, human beings have always left their mark on the natural environment. Yet these fade through the centuries, nature often reclaiming that space as time marches relentlessly on. I wanted these photographs to stop time. To open a door through which you walk as a viewer, all becoming still around you. These works allow you to see the beauty which lies within the brutality, decay and dereliction in Scotland. Both intimate and alienating at the same time, the photographs allow you to contemplate the composition and begin to construct your own narrative for the image.

I visited 5 locations repeatedly, building relationships with the spaces and imm...