Margaret Tait

File:Kirkwall Broad Street 25 seen from the north.jpg

Tait was born and raised in Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland, before being sent to school in Edinburgh.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/margaret-tait|title=Margaret Tait (1918–1999)|publisher=Scottish Poetry Library|access-date=25 August 2018}} She attended the University of Edinburgh, gaining qualifications in medicine upon her graduation in 1941. Between 1943 and 1946 she served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, where she was stationed variously in India, Sri Lanka and Malaya. In 1950, she moved to Rome to study filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18745974.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825143439/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18745974.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 August 2018|title=A reel visionary|last=Bell|first=Gavin|date=27 September 2000|work=The Scotsman|url-access=|access-date=25 August 2018}}

In 1952, after completing her studies in Italy, Tait returned to Scotland, where she lived on Rose Street in Edinburgh{{Cite book|last=Neely, Sarah|title=Between categories : the films of Margaret Tait: portraits, poetry, sound and place|isbn=978-1-78707-316-6|location=Oxford|pages=232|oclc=982451544}} and founded Ancona Films, named after the street where she had lodged while studying in Rome.{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23742838.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825143342/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23742838.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 August 2018|title=Margaret Tait|last=Stevenson|first=Gerda|date=18 May 1999|work=Glasgow Herald|url-access=|access-date=25 August 2018}} During this period she was close to, though not a member of, the Edinburgh-based Rose Street Poets, whose ranks included Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley Maclean and Norman MacCaig.Nick Roddick, pp. 54, Sight & Sound June 2015 Volume 25 Issue 6 From 1955 to 1961 she was a member of the ruling council of the influential Edinburgh conservationist body the Cockburn Association.{{cite web | url=https://www.cockburnassociation.org.uk/history/office-bearers/ | title=Historic Cockburn Association Office-Bearers }}

In the mid-1960s, she lived near Helmsdale in Sutherland{{Cite book|last=Neely, Sarah|title=Between categories : the films of Margaret Tait: portraits, poetry, sound and place|isbn=978-1-78707-316-6|location=Oxford|pages=235|oclc=982451544}} before returning to Orkney. In the early 1970s she made films that took inspiration from the landscape and culture of the islands and the town of her birth, Kirkwall. She made most of her 32 short films and one full-length film, Blue Black Permanent, in Orkney. She also wrote prose and poetry, self-publishing in 1959 and 1960 three books of verse—origins and elements, The Hen and the Bees, and Subjects and Sequences—and two of short stories, Lane Furniture: A Book of Stories and The Grassy Stories: Short Stories for Children. In 2012 academic Sarah Neely edited Margaret Tait Poems, Stories and Writings with a foreword by Ali Smith. A second edition was published as a Carcanet Classic in 2023.{{Cite web |title=Carcanet Press - Poems, Stories and Writings |url=https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781800173798 |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=www.carcanet.co.uk}}

Tait's films reflect her interest in poetry. The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo is named after the poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins and features Tait reading it; Hugh MacDiarmid, A Portrait featured the poet, who reads from several of his poems; of the title and content of her film Colour Poems, she wrote, "A poem started in words is continued in images." Much analysis of Tait's work foregrounds its lyrical quality. Ali Smith wrote of her film Aerial: "Here's a tiny poem of the relentlessness and beauty of the natural, all around us".{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Ali |chapter=The Margaret Tait Years |title=Subjects and Sequences: A Margaret Tait Reader |publisher=LUX |location=London |date=2004 |page=13}} Fellow Orcadian writer George MacKay Brown wrote that Tait's film Place of Work "calls to mind T. S. Eliot's poem Burnt Norton: Garden and house, a small enclave in time where gracious and lovely and stirring things have happened—love and birth and death."{{Cite book |last=Neely |first=Sarah |title=Between Categories: The Films of Margaret Tait: Portraits, Poetry, Sound and Place |year=2017 |location=Oxford |publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-3034318549 |pages=153–154}} In the documentary Margaret Tait: Film Maker, produced for Channel Four Television in 1983, Tait described her life's work as making "film poems".{{Cite web|url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150233047 |title=Margaret Tait: Film Maker |date=n.d. |website=British Film Institute|at=at 9 minutes 55 seconds|access-date=2024-09-02}}

File:Kirkwall Broad Street 25 Margaret Tait commemorative plaque.jpg

File:OrkneyPoets.jpg

Tait died on 16 April 1999 at the Orkney home she shared with her husband, Alex Pirie.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gerdastevenson.co.uk/writing-margaret.htm|title=Gerda Stevenson|website=www.gerdastevenson.co.uk|access-date=2020-04-10}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-margaret-tait-1093051.html|title=Obituary: Margaret Tait|date=12 May 1999|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}} An annual Margaret Tait Award was established in 2010 in conjunction with Glasgow Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://glasgowfilm.org/glasgow-film-festival/about-the-festival/margaret-tait-award|title=Margaret Tait Award|publisher=Glasgow Film Festival|access-date=25 August 2018}}

Retrospectives of Tait's work took place at the National Film Theatre London in 2000 (curated by Benjamin Cook and Peter Todd, who both edited the first book dedicated to Tait, published by LUX), at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2004 (curated by Todd), and at BFI Southbank (NFT) London in 2018 (also curated by Todd).{{Cite web|url=https://lux.org.uk/artist/peter-todd|title=Peter Todd|website=LUX|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-09}}National Film Theatre Guide, October 2000, pp.34–3Edinburgh International Film Festival 58th Brochure, 18–29 August 2004 pp 124–128BFI Southbank Guide (NFT), October–November 2018, pp 44–46 The 2018 retrospective was part of a year-long celebration of her life and work, with screenings, exhibitions, talks and other events. Sarah Neely was the director, supported by Creative Scotland. Centenary exhibitions devoted to Tait's work were held at the GoMA Glasgow and The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney. Berlin-based filmmaker Ute Aurand visited Tait in 1995. Aurand became important to the screening of Tait's films in Germany and made a film based on her visit, Glimpses from a Visit to Orkney in Summer 1995.

In February 2020, Historic Environment Scotland announced Tait would be included in the Commemorative plaque scheme.The plaque was unveiled on 14 July 2022 at 25 Broad Street, Kirkwall.{{Cite tweet |title=Register |url-access=limited |user=histenvscot |number=1547582887590891521 |url=https://twitter.com/histenvscot/status/1547582887590891521 |language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.margarettait100.com/|title=Margaret Tait 100|website=Margaret Tait 100|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-07}}

Tait's work was introduced to many new audiences with the international film tour of her work Subjects and Sequences (named after her book of poems). Made up of two programmes of films newly struck on 16mm film from the original 16mm negatives, the first titled Film Poems and the second Islands, and curated by Peter Todd for LUX, it was launched on 16 November 2004 with a screening at Cecil Sharp House, London. Subjects and Sequences A LUX Project was made possible by funding from Arts Council England, Scottish Screen, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, & Pier Arts Centre. Over the next three years it was presented at over 30 screenings, including Watershed Bristol, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scratch Projections Paris, Dartington Arts, Chapter Cardiff, Cinematexas Austin, Museum of Modern Art New York,{{Cite web |title=Stalking the Image: The Films of Margaret Tait {{!}} MoMA |url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/676 |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=The Museum of Modern Art |language=en}} Mumbai International Film Festival, Kino Arsenal Berlin,{{Cite web |title="The cinema I care about is at the level of poetry" (Margaret Tait) |url=https://www.arsenal-berlin.de/en/forum-forum-expanded/news-page/the-cinema-i-care-about-is-at-the-level-of-poetry-margaret-tait/ |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V. |language=en-GB}} National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, Harvard Film Archive,{{Cite web |title=Margaret Tait: Subjects and Sequences |url=https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/margaret-tait-subjects-and-sequences-2006-09 |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=Harvard Film Archive |language=en}} and Greek Film Archive Athens.

The latter half of 2022 saw artists and filmmakers continue to acknowledge Tait's influence. The exhibition Being in a Place – A Portrait of Margaret Tait opened in September at the VOID Gallery, Derry.{{Cite web |title=Luke Fowler |url=https://www.derryvoid.com/exhibitions/luke-fowler/ |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=Void Derry |language=en-US}} It also saw the premiere of a film about Tait by Luke Fowler, from which the exhibition took its name.{{Cite web |title=Being in a Place review: allusive Margaret Tait doc |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/being-place-allusive-pleasingly-fluid-portrait-margaret-tait |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=BFI |language=en}} A second exhibition featuring the film opened at The Modern Institute, Glasgow,{{Cite web |title=Viewing Room: Luke Fowler Being in a Place |url=https://www.themoderninstitute.com/viewing-room/luke-fowler-being-in-a-place |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=The Modern Institute |language=en}} in November 2022. Both exhibitions presented the film with works from the Tait archive. Her films remain in distribution in the UK.{{Cite web|url=https://lux.org.uk/artist/margaret-tait|title=Margaret Tait|website=LUX|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-07}} Fowler's film Being in a Place was shown in the Forum section of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival (2023) in competition for the Caligari Filmpreis.{{cite web |last=Dalton |first=Ben |title=News: Berlinale unveils Forum titles for 2023 edition |url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/berlinale-unveils-forum-titles-for-2023-edition/5178132.article |date= January 16, 2023 |access-date=February 10, 2023}}

In November 2022 the film Aftersun, directed by Charlotte Wells, was released. Wells acknowledged Tait's influence on the film,{{Cite web |date=2022-11-20 |title=Aftersun review – luminous father-daughter drama starring Paul Mescal |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/nov/20/aftersun-review-charlotte-wells-luminous-father-daughter-drama-paul-mescal |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} particularly that of Blue Black Permanent,{{Cite web |last=Daniels |first=Robert |title=Writing Inside Out: Charlotte Wells on Aftersun {{!}} Interviews {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/aftersun-interview |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=Roger Ebert.com |language=en}} which also centres around childhood memories of a now-absent parent as experienced in the present. Tait's collection Poems, Stories and Writings is one of the books the character Calum (played by Paul Mescal) takes along on a Turkish summer holiday in the film.

• One Is One (1951)
• Three Portrait Sketches (1951)
• The Lion, The Griffin and the Kangaroo (1952)
• Happy Bees (1955)
• Orquil Burn (1955)
• A Portrait of Ga (1955)
• The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo (1955)
• Calypso (1956)
• The Drift Back (1956)
• Rose Street (1956)
• Where I Am Is Here (1964)
• Palindrome (1964)
• Hugh Macdiarmid: A Portrait (1964)
• The Big Sheep (1966)
• Splashing (1966)
• A Pleasant Place (1969)
• He's Back (The Return) (1970)
• John MacFadyen (The Stripes in the Tartan) (1970)
• Painted Eightsome (1970)
• On The Mountain (1974)
• Colour Poems (1974)
• Aerial (1974)
• These Walls (1974)
• Tailpiece (1976)
• Place of Work (1976)
• Aspects of Kirkwall : Shape of a Town (1977)
• Aspects of Kirkwall : Occasions (1977)
• Aspects of Kirkwall : The Ba, Over the Years (1981)
• Aspects of Kirkwall : The Look of the Place (1981){{Cite web|url=https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/3704?search_term=women&search_join_type=AND&search_fuzzy=yes|title=Full record for 'LOOK OF THE PLACE, the' (3704) - Moving Image Archive catalogue|website=movingimage.nls.uk}}
• Aspects of Kirkwall : Some Changes (1981)
• Landmakar (1981)
• Blue Black Permanent (1992) (Feature)
• Garden Pieces (1998)

• The Grassy Stories: Short Stories from Children (Edinburgh: M.C. Tait, 1959)
• Lane Furniture: A Book of Stories (Edinburgh: M.C. Tait, 1959)
• origins and elements (Edinburgh: M.C. Tait, 1959)
• The Hen and the Bees: Legends and Lyrics (Edinburgh: M.C. Tait, 1960)
• Subjects and Sequences (Edinburgh: M.C. Tait, 1960)
• Poems, Stories and Writings, edited by Sarah Neely (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2012)
• Subjects and Sequences: A Margaret Tait Reader, edited by Peter Todd and Benjamin Cook (London: LUX, 2004)

{{reflist}}

• [http://ssa.nls.uk/biography.cfm?bid=10032 National Library of Scotland, Moving Image Archive] (Biography of Margaret Tait with links to film details and clips)
• [http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/margaret-tait Scottish Poetry Library] (Biography of Margaret Tait, recordings of her reading her poetry, and links to poem texts)
• [http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/2004/ Preserving the Hand-Painted Films of Margaret Tait], (MA Dissertation), Joss Winn, 2002

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Category:1918 births

Category:1999 deaths

Category:20th-century Scottish women writers

Category:20th-century Scottish medical doctors

Category:20th-century Scottish poets

Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh

Category:British Army personnel of World War II

Category:Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia alumni

Category:People from Kirkwall

Category:Royal Army Medical Corps officers

Category:Scottish women film directors

Category:20th-century Scottish women medical doctors

Category:Scottish women poets

Category:Women in the British Army

Category:Military personnel from Orkney

Category:People from Orkney