Fife photographer's portrait wins top Scottish award

Kit Martin, a former medical and police photographer who lives in Newport on Tay, won of the Richard Coward Scottish Portrait Award in Photography and £3000 with her portrait of Mhairi, host and owner of Island Darkrooom, in Lewis.

She described it as “a wonderful surprise.”

The portrait was included in the winners in Scotland’s biggest awards for portraiture.

Gordon Mitchell, director of the awards, said: “’Mhairi’ may be the smallest photographic work in the exhibition yet its ability to draw the viewer in to discover the many layers of film which make up the composition – from Mhairi’s gaze to her attire and surrounding interior of the bothy – gives it a tangible sense of depth and mystery.

“You want to lift this work, hold it, explore it. It has an exquisite appeal.”

Of the award - the last year for the Richard Coward Scottish Portrait Award in photography - Kit added: “It has come as a wonderful surprise and is still sinking in.

“This award will give me increased confidence to work more with my Intrepid 4x5 field camera and take more portraits with it, while continuing to experiment with double exposures.”

The Scottish Portrait Awards gives visibility to a mix of well-established artists as well as newcomers across a diversity of styles.

Drawing on personal and universal narratives – from identity and family, to loss and personal reflections – this year’s exhibition of 60 shortlisted works celebrates the wealth of creative talent in Scotland today.