ZenBends

We now have a date for the first Ian MacKenzie Memorial Event: an Exhibition & Concert will be held at Columcille Centre, Newbattle Terrace, Edinburgh on 12th December 2010.

If you would like to contribute anything to this event (e.g., read a poem, sing/play a piece of music, say a few words), please get in touch by writing to talithamac@googlemail.com.

Over £1,100 have been donated so far and we hope to raise enough to fund a series of exhibitions to travel all over Scotland. Many thanks to all contributors–we are in the process of sending posters out so you should receive one before too long, if you haven’t already.

Thank you for your patience & your support.

A beautiful trio of Scottish images has been made into a poster and will be given to anyone who donates £20 or more to the Ian MacKenzie Memorial Fund. If you made an anonymous donation at the funeral and would like a copy of the poster, please get in touch to let us know: talithamac@googlemail.com

I have been hand delivering copies but hope to get a mailing out soon to those who are further afield. Many thanks to those who have given your support in so many ways.

We now have a dedicated bank account for the fund so cheques can be made payable to Ian MacKenzie Memorial Fund
and sent to:

33/12 Millar Crescent
Edinburgh EH10 5HQ

The total recieved so far is £1068, which will go toward producing a Photographic Exhibition and Memorial Concert in Edinburgh in September 2010. Watch this space for more details . . .

Many thanks,

Talitha MacKenzie
Director, Ian MacKenzie Memorial Fund

Rowan trees donated by Charlie & Rosie Hackett, Lindy Richardson and Colin Gray were planted in memory of Ian MacKenzie on Friday 26 March, 2010. 4 traditional Scottish trees were planted 2 on each side of the stone steps in the Zoë Capernaros Memorial Herb Garden, behind the School of Scottish Studies Photo Archive, University of Edinburgh. Diagonally opposite, a Kashmiri rowan was planted, by John Turpin, with assistance by Talitha & Ross MacKenzie.

Over £1000 has been collected for the Ian MacKenzie Memorial Fund and a Memorial Exhibition & Concert is planned for September this year.

Photo by Sarah Bonner-Morgan

No Stopping

When a song
Stays frozen
On your lips,
Open your heart,
Let the silence rise
And pour out
Wrapping you in wings
And freedom to take
This flight into the greater
Silence where you belong.

Misha Feigin, 22 February 2010; photo by Ian MacKenzie

I have posted some images of Ian MacKenzie’s funeral at the following site: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146446&id=659922299&l=105d52ab6d

Lowering the Willow Coffin, Ian MacKenzie Burial at Ardearg, 12 February 2010; photo by Gonzalo Mazzei

Following a meeting last month with David Nicolson (Development Manager at the University of Edinburgh), it was suggested that I seek the advice of my own solicitor, Mr Bowman (at Bonar MacKenzie) in order to set up the Ian MacKenzie Trust. My appointment with Mr Bowman was last week and his advice was that setting up and administration of a trust would eat up a large portion of the money donated.

So, we have opted to go the route of a Memorial Fund so that the contributions will go toward the intended purpose. I have called a meeting for 3rd March where we will discuss strategies and draw up an action plan. My first thought is to mount an Ian MacKenzie Memorial Exhibition in Edinburgh (possibly for the end of July 2010). I have been granted permission to go to his workplace one day per week in order to go through his vast store of images and select a short-list of pieces for display.

If this exhibition proves to be cost-effective, we hope to tour it round Scotland, inviting people in each area to bring their own ethnological photographs to be copied and stored in the School of Scottish Studies Archives. This was Ian’s dream: to expand the archives and to have representative photographs from all regions of Scotland stored in Edinburgh.

I would like to thank all of you who have made donations to the fund. I am currently looking into creating a limited edition print of one of Ian’s most beautiful works: a triptych of landscape images from the Western Isles as a gift for those who have contributed £50 ($100) or more. If you are eligible for this gift but your donation was anonymous, please get in touch to let me know: talithamac@googlemail.com

Photo by Gonzalo Mazzei: Triptych by Ian MacKenzie; Wedding Photo by Alex Spence

The new date for Ian MacKenzie’s funeral is now confirmed: Friday 1.45 PM, 12 February, at

Church of Scotland Parish Church, Inverinate, Kintail

Burial at Ardearg Cemetery, Ratagan.

Soup and sandwiches to follow at Kintail Lodge Hotel. Donations of home-baking gratefully received.

The wearing of colour is requested. No flowers at the site please, with the exception of sprigs of holly.

The Ian MacKenzie Trust is being set up and any contributions will be gratefully accepted. Please watch this site for more information.

Two buses are being organised, one travelling from Edinburgh and the other from Inverness:

Departing Edinburgh at 7.00 AM
Departing Inverness at 10.30 AM

Please watch this space for further details.

Any queries to Talitha MacKenzie at talithamac@googlemail.com

Ardearg Burial Ground, photo by Ian MacKenzie, 2008