Landscape, History and Creative Writing: The Massey Sisters

This project interweaves research and creative writing to explore the depiction of landscape, history and the environment in the works of two women living in late 19th Century/early 20th Century Wales. The Massey sisters of Anglesey are important, though not widely known, figures in the island's - and Wales's - cultural history. Members of an Anglo-Welsh aristocratic family who lived during the late Victorian/Edwardian era they produced an extensive collection of botanical studies, illustrated with exquisite watercolour paintings, of the island's flora. These studies and illustrations provide an unparalleled picture of Anglesey's landscape and environment during this period in its history.

That picture is, however, only a partially revealing one. Behind the still and stylised portraits created by the sisters, presenting Anglesey as part of an immutable realm of natural history, was an era of significant social and environmental change, effecting both the physical and social world they lived in. The influence of the Anglo-Welsh gentry on the island's life was waning, while the introduction of modern agricultural techniques was altering its landscape (several of the specimens they described would soon be extinct).

The research in this project aims to recover and dramatise the connections between the Massey sisters' botanical works and this history. It will explore the specific circumstances and periods in which these studies and illustrations were created and relate them to a wider set of social, cultural and historical contexts.

As a creative writer I will achieve these objectives through an interweaving of original historical research and the creation of a number of works of historical fiction. These works will comprise of a series of fictional sketches and an historical novel based on the lives and work of the Massey sisters (both of which will be illustrated with reproductions of their paintings), exploring and dramatising the connections between them. There will also be a strong focus in the sketches and the novel on the landscape represented in the sisters' work. This focus will evoke, and ask questions about, the various social, cultural and historical meanings embedded in that representation.

Creative writing can offer a unique means of approaching these aspects of history and heritage. To explore this potential I will arrange an exhibition - in collaboration with the National Museum of Wales and Oriel Ynys Mon - of a selection of my fictional sketches alongside the paintings and studies on which they were based. In the course of preparing/organising this exhibition, I will examine the role creative writing can play in presenting cultural and social heritage. I will also arrange a series of readings and talks to accompany the exhibition, in order to introduce the issues and topics raised by it to the general public.

The Welsh language has two words for landscape: tirwedd and tirlun. The first refers to the physical landscape itself, while the second refers to the picture of the landscape. In effect they are not just complementary terms but indivisible ones: we inevitably see a landscape through the pictures we have created of it. This project on the work of the Massey sisters will explore the different mediums, viewpoints, and languages which have been knitted together to create the picture of a particular and unique landscape - that of Anglesey - while at the same time adding to it.

Although the Massey sisters made a significant contribution to knowledge and culture in North Wales in the late19th/early 20th Century they are not widely known beyond Anglesey, and even there their profile could be higher. This research will make a significant contribution to introducing the Massey sisters and their work to the general public.

The novel and fictional sketches about the sisters and their work will offer opportunities for readers nationally and worldwide to find out more about them, their work, and the landscape they depicted. A well researched work of historical fiction therefore provides a bridge to knowledge well beyond the reach of purely academic work.

Among the proposed outcomes of my project will be an exhibition combining the creative results of my research with displays of the Massey sisters' work. This will entail extensive collaboration with both The National Museum of Wales and Oriel Ynys Mon. This exhibition will be an opportunity to bring together local heritage, natural history, and creative writing as mutually revealing perspectives on the past, and to develop through collaboration with The National Museum of Wales and Oriel Ynys Mon various innovative approaches for presenting these ideas, information and images to the general public. In this way, the project will offer direct benefits to those working in the cultural and heritage industries.

I will create a forum, through a series of readings, discussions and talks to take place alongside these exhibitions, where members of the community can interact with myself as a writer, with relevant staff from the museum, and a selection of local historians and artists in order to gain an insight into the cultural and historical significance of the Massey sisters. These activities will also provide the general public with a detailed and specific example of the working practices of creative writers: how they relate to their subject matter; how they set about approaching their material; how they respond to a particular landscape; and how their approach differs/overlaps with that of practitioners in other fields.