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Rowan Morrison, Artist, Author, Auld Crone
Voices and Visions of the Witch
Visual and Literary Art Exhibition
by the Creative Coven
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4th of June till the 11th of August 2025
Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries
1-7 Abbot Street
Dunfermline
KY12 7NL
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PDF of the Exhibition catalogue. Click on the button to download. This version was produced for those who cannot attend the gallery to view the artwork and poetry. Please note that not all pieces are included, and the images of my work are not the stitched finished versions. They can only be seen in the gallery. Please note that the work included is subject to copyright and anyone reproducing it will be subject to legal action.
The Scottish Witchcraft Act (ANENTIS WITCHCRAFTIS) came into effect on the 4th of June 1563. Under this law, the practice of witchcraft and consulting with witches became capital offences. It is estimated that in Scotland alone, around four thousand people (84% of whom were women) were persecuted, with two-thirds of these executed for the crime of witchcraft. The Act remained on the Scottish statute books until it was repealed in 1735.
This innovative exhibition is a creative response to the deadly law penned by the hands of men, that lit the spark of the burning times. The exhibition has been curated by Rowan Morrison and features a collection of multimedia art, poetry and prose from a coven of creatives whose artistry is interwoven with remembrance of the Scottish witch hunts.
It resurrects personal interpretations of witch persecution without the bias of an accompanied history written from the viewpoint of the patriarchal elite. To allow you to experience this dark period in Scottish history and bear witness to emotive visual and literary art that unveils the souls and empowers the voices of the many accused witches. This will take you back to a time when the skies above Scotland were lit with flames, fuelled by the flesh of burning women.
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My Exhibition Art
 Declaration of ReclamationCreated with thousands of subversive stitches that proclaim the reclamation of the 4th of June, as a National Day of Remembrance of Scotland’s Accused Witches. The words, not for glory of riches, but in remembrance, are the heart of all we do. Inspired by the Declaration of Arbroath, hand stitched in linen and decorated with a thousand red threads, one for each of the accused. (Ink, linen and the subversive stitch). |  Screams from the Otherworldtext (Booklet (Small)) (1)Channelled image created for the Unknown Witch project that aimed to give Scotland's unknown witches a face, where history had failed to give them a name. This was born as a reaction to the personal pain I felt every time I came across trial records where the accused did not even have a name. There are 625 unknown witches listed in the Scottish witch trial records. All of them now have a face! (Ink, linen and the subversive stitch). ​ |  Worst of WitchesGellis, a young maid servant from Tranent, was imprisoned, tortured and forced to confess to an alleged plot to kill James V1 of Scotland. Despite having crushed fingers, the king commanded she play the mouth harp and sing as she had for the devil at North Berwick. Gellis retracted her confession that had implicated many others but was executed. These trials became the first ‘witch panic’ that lit the flame of the burning times. This brave young woman wanted me to show her face |
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 Mothers TearAgnes was a healer and midwife from Nether Keith. The charges of witchcraft against her consisted of fifty-three ‘articles of dittay’. Including creating a charm made from a cat and parts of a dead man, to raise a storm to sink the king’s ship. According to the record, when this widow was interrogated by James VI, she told him things she could not have known about his wedding night. The tear holds the memory of the children she will never see again. (Ink, linen and the subversive stitch). |  Witch MotherI know the spirit of Catherine Mitchell intimately. Her voice narrates the story of a mother and daughter who were both executed for witchcraft in my book ‘The Witches of Culross’. Catherine first came to me when I was writing a performance piece about the witches of Culross. I have been exploring generational witch persecution and the wounds that are carried in the blood ever since. This piece shows this mother imprisoned in the Witch’s Bridal (Ink, linen and the subversive stitch) |  Witch DaughterThe trial of Katherine and the three other women accused of witchcraft in Culross in 1675 was striking. The accusations were not the usual complaints of charming or causing misfortune to neighbours that were raised in parishes. Instead, the devil played centre stage in these precise elite confessions. It was alleged that Katherine claimed to have been brought into the devil’s service at the instigation of her mother, Catherine Mitchell, who had been executed for witchcraft 34 years earlier. |
 Good CheerIn a forced confession, Isobel said she entered the Devil's service because her fields were not as rich as her neighbours. A situation that Satan promised to rectify, as he wished the widow whom he named (Feyand) to be of good cheer. Allegedly, she renounced her baptism to God by holding one hand on top of her head and the other clasping the sole of her foot. The old woman was said to be marked in her privy place and had engaged in carnal copulation with the devil whose seed was cold. |  Manner of a BeastAccording to the record, Agnes turned to the Devil in despair over her poverty, a common thread in confessions from poor old women. What was unusual about the case of the four women from Culross is that all the precise elite notions of witchcraft were found! The trial transcripts state that these confessions were made without the use of torture. But what is stripping, shearing, and the violent pricking of women’s vaginas if not torture? (Ink, linen and the subversive stitch). |  Lamb of GodLilias is the only accused witch in Scotland who has a known grave. I named the portrait the Lamb of God, I had many visions of her praying in the wretched cell where she died before a trial could condemn this poor woman as a witch. Her constant recitation of the Lord’s prayer haunted and humbled me. A poignant reminder of the importance of faith to those who existed during this dark period in history. (Ink, linen and the subversive stitch). |
 Death MaskI created this mask to show Lilias at peace in the otherworld. A state of grace is not always evident on a human face after death. Lilias did not die with hatred polluting her gentle soul. This would be understandable after a lifetime of torment for looking different. Skin-deep differences that likely led to accusations of witchcraft. On days when it is difficult to keep faith, I think of Lilias Aide. (Paper clay, linen, ink, wool and seaweed). |  Coven of Witch ChildrenThese miniatures were created to humanise the accused witches featured in the exhibition by showing them as children. To highlight that they were not baneful servants of the devil that deserved to be hunted, tortured and executed before their bodies were burnt to nothing but ash. |  No JusticeJanet’s likeness was the hardest of all the women to capture. Perhaps this is reflective of the harrowing nature of her death at the hands of a mob who were baying for witches’ blood. These images are too horrific to portray. The absence of justice unsettles me even now. Janet appeared in a carmine shadow of fear, deep in the otherworld where suffering souls reside. (Ink, linen and the subversive stitch). |
 Janet's EyesI called out to Janet beyond the veil and saw hundreds of eyes staring back at me. Many of the accused were given this name at birth or by the hands of men who wrote the records. Knowing that she might have another name, I called again and found the ‘Janet’ whose eyes you see in the portrait. This echo of time captured the fear and confusion before the last witch of Scotland was burnt alive. (Ink, linen and the subversive stitch). |  Born and UnbornIn memory of the born and unborn children of the burning times. Babies whose breath was stolen in the womb, due to the incarceration, torture and execution of their mothers. Babies whose mothers were accused and convicted, leaving them with no breast to suckle and no lullabies whispered in their tiny ears. Babies who grew into women and lived in fear of witchcraft for almost two hundred years. |
WITCHES OF CULROSS - AMAZON BOOK REVIEW
This book is a very powerful read. It truly brings alive the terrible time of the witch trials in a visceral way as it not only brings to life the harsh realities of life in those times but also the unforgivable injustices that happened against the accused. It is a story that has long needed to be told and very much needs to be read. The storytelling is vivid and also beautiful as it captures some of the old ways and language of rural Scotland in its telling. I couldn't put it down until I finished it. This really is a must read book.