Ascend and soar. Survey paths walked, energy expended, power generated, information transmitted. Lead the way.
“Flying High” is a box kite made with oak struts. The handwoven fabric of the kite is made from handspun flax tow. The outer oak struts are gilded with gold leaf, and the height of the gilding references the branches of the phylogenetic tree on “In Conversation”. Each of the eight faces of the kite is embroidered in red cotton thread with circles and squares representing the siblings in each of the seven generation of my family and their weaver-ish occupations. Circles are women, squares are men. Cross-hatching shows weavers, vertical lines those with weaving-ish jobs. The eighth face shows Jasmine with a question mark – we do not know if she was weaving 50,000 years ago.
We meet Agnes in the first national, individual-level census for Scotland in 1841, living in Forfar, Angus. Agnes is 50, working as a ‘winder’ and shares her home with her children.
There’s no birth or baptism record for Agnes that I could find. She was born around 1791, based on ages and dates on subsequent census returns and her death certificate. We know nothing about her parents or siblings. Birth (or baptism) records at that time were in church parish records and not collected systematically. They were for those who had the money and inclination to pay for them. What we think are the proclamation of banns for Agnes’ marriage in 1811 are noted in the old parish records for Forfar. Her husband did not survive to the first census.
By the 1851 census, Agnes has moved nine miles across the county of Forfarshire to Kirriemuir, perhaps to be with her daughter, also Agnes. They live close to each other, in the same street but in separate households. Agnes was still working at that time, aged 59 years, as a ‘winder of linen yarn’. Agnes died in 1858, aged 67 and is buried in Kirriemuir church yard.
Agnes represents the last generation that we can re-discover through national records. All those who went before her are ancestors that, I hope, fly high above our heads, watching over us, leading the way.
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