Plot 16

Paul, my other half, and I have been plotting at Hamiltonhill Allotment for almost 5 years now. Set in the north of Glasgow, the site presents us with a number of challenges:

Poor soil – it was once a glass factory and was closed for 4 years by the Council so the site became overrun by weeds.

Climate  – at the top of a hill, the site can be windy and frost and snow can last a little longer than other parts of Glasgow.

Vandalism – there are usually a few incursions onto the site each year when sheds get broken into, tools get stolen or strewn round the site and vegetables get lobbed at greenhouses…

In spite of all those issues we have set about transforming a neglected, derelict, overgrown plot into a place we love. We’ve had to learn everything as we go along and are in a constant stare of reappraising what we do and what does and doesn’t work.

Plot 16 – the very beginning

Plot 16

Paul at the plot

Jan at the Plot

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The Road to Drumleman: A Documentary Film by Jan Nimmo

http://www.jannimmo.com/TRTD.html

The Road to Drumleman tells the story of Kintyre’s last coal mine, The Argyll Colliery (1947–1967), the most remote coal mine in Scotland. Almost no physical traces of the mine remain and now it is hard to imagine that the well run mine thrived just behind spectacular Machrihanish Bay.
When artist Jan Nimmo’s father and former Argyll Colliery shot firer, Neil Nimmo, died, Jan realised that there was an urgency to gather the stories of the remaining miners. Through their personal narrative the film gives an insight into working life 50 years ago; of its hardships and camaraderie. The stories span the life of the mine and pay tribute to all of the men who worked invisibly beneath the wild and unspoiled shores of western Kintyre.

“The Road to Drumleman is a tribute to the miners of Argyll Colliery and a rich oral history of a hidden Scotland. Not just Kintyre, but the whole country is enriched by this moving, witty, compassionate landmark film”.

© Jan Nimmo 2014

The Road to Drumleman: Memories of the Argyll Colliery

Director: Jan Nimmo (50 mins)

About this film

When my father, ex- Argyll Colliery worker Neil Nimmo, died I had a lot of answered questions – the kind she should have asked but didn’t – and my loss made me curious to find out more about the place where her father had worked until she was four years old. The site of the mine is now a caravan park, set back from the spectacular Machrihanish Bay on Kintyre’s western shore, and almost no physical traces of its existence remain. Over the course of three years I sought out the remaining men who had worked alongside her father to piece together the story of Scotland’s most remote coal mine. This unique and fragile piece of oral history is a tribute to all the men who worked there. The film has a been a very personal piece of work for me as this was my way of mourning for my father.

Neil Nimmo and his catch from “The Backs” Water (The Machirhanish Water) which runs behind the site of the colliery. He had an audience of men from the colliery garage that day as he played the salmon…

The film was premiered at Campbeltown Picture House and subsequently shown at Document Human Rights Film Festival in Glasgow, at Cine de Granada in Spain and there have been various community screenings including a very special screening and Céilidh at Machrihanish Village Hall with the contributors and their families… Sadly some of the contributors have died both during the making of and since finishing the film; Willie McKinlay, Jim Fowler, John Anderson, Campbell Maloney and Dennis McWhirter.

The film and is dedicated to the memory of my father and his twin brother, Ramsay.

If you would like to arrange community screening of this film contact me via the blog or my website. http://www.jannimmo.com

 

Jan Nimmo

Jan and Chaparro. Photo: Paul Barham ©

I am a Glasgow based artist and filmmaker. My work is essentially about sharing peoples’ stories through artwork, film and writing. I am especially interested in agriculture, the lives of working people and Latin American popular culture.

I have worked with banana and pineapple workers in Latin America and Central Africa since 2000. I want workers’ testimony to help us, the consumers, to understand that the work is backbreaking, that a 12 hour day may be routine and that workers are often exposed to harmful, toxic chemicals. It is often difficult or impossible for workers to join a trade union in order to defend the most basic of rights so international solidarity is important. My work has been to make portraits (both woodcuts prints and photographs), installations, documentary films and to write about the experiences of banana workers.

Deleafer, Banana Plantation, Cameroon. Photo: Jan Nimmo ©

I have travelled extensively in Latin America and am interested in Mexican and Guatemalan popular art and Cuban traditional music. Because I have a great affection for Mexico and am concerned about human right violations so I make artwork in solidarity with people and campaigns there. Since 2014 I have been making portraits in solidarity with the 43 disappeared students of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero Mexico. These took a year to make and I continue to make work about Ayotzinapa. The portraits have been exhibited in the Scottish Parliament and thanks to human rights activist, Eréndira Sandoval Carrillo, my has work reached the parents of the missing students. The work has almost taken on a life of its own in Mexico and is frequently seen in the hands of the families at meetings and marches or decorating the Normalista college in Ayotzinapa, where the students were studying to become primary teachers. Recently I have made work in collaboration with with the families of miners who worked in a coal mine in northern Mexico, Pasta de Conchos, where 65 miners were killed in an underground explosion. Their bodies have never been recovered so the work is about naming them and remembering them.

Yo, Jan Nimmo,Glasgow, Escocia, quiero saber dónde está Giovanni Galindrez Guerrero. Artwork: Jan Nimmo ©

I am making portraits and gathering the testimonies of the agricultural workers in the Sierra de Huelva, a place I know like the back of my hand, thanks to my horse, Chaparro. Cork oaks are the backdrop to my rides there so I have gradually become involved in gathering moving and still images of cork, cork oaks and the people who work in this slow burning, sustainable but precarious industry. More drawings here:

Rafael, Cork Harvester, Sierra de Huelva. Drawing: jan Nimmo ©

Closer to home, I have been involved in an oral history project “The Road to Drumleman” about the coal mine in Kintyre where my father worked as a young man. I made a film but want to continue to gather people’s stories about the Argyll Colliery. I have made a series of portraits of people associated with the mine and am currently leading a heritage/arts project in Kintyre. Here is the blog and you can view the drawings here:

Neil Nimmo, Shot-firer, Argyll Colliery. Drawing: Jan Nimmo ©

I am interested in sustainable growing and food. I share an allotment, “Plot 16” with my husband. We also like to forage both in Scotland and in Spain.

My “bread and butter” work is facilitating community arts projects, educational work and graphic design. One of the most recent projects that I facilitated here in Scotland was A View From Here with Scottish Refugee Council, where I worked as Visual Arts Coordinator.

http://www.jannimmo.com