A photobook about a Scottish coastal community and land impacted by Trump’s plans to build “The Greatest Golf Course in the World”
Menie: TRUMPED’ will be a photobook bringing together photographs and an archive collated by photographer Alicia Bruce and the residents of Menie. The project documents sixteen years of Donald Trump’s impact on a coastal Scottish community from 2006 until present day. The book will therefore include new images made in 2021 and 2022 as well as from the photographer’s back catalogue.
Collaborating with Daylight Books (US), this publication will be the first of its kind and will be a lasting legacy for the residents of Menie and a record of extraordinary people who stood up to money, power and bullying to save their land and home from compulsory purchase order (CPO). The book will be hardbound, limited edition and internationally distributed.
The photobook will serve as a portrait of a Scottish coastal community in conflict with Donald Trump who in 2006 announced plans to create what he said would be ‘The Greatest Golf Course in the World’. A book is a tangible object and more accessible to many than an exhibition or an archive. The role of photography in portraying the significance of this community’s struggle with one of the most controversial and powerful figures in the world continues to reverberate. A book will, in an accessible way, bring this message to a worldwide audience. Daylight Books (US) have been selected as the publisher for this photobook due to their United States location, international distribution and reputation for producing high-quality photobooks. The production, distribution and staffing costs are being covered by this Crowdfunder for what is intended as a legacy to the residents and land in Menie, especially for Molly Forbes, Sheila Forbes and Susan Munro who all sadly passed away during the Covid19 pandemic
For Alicia Bruce, “This project is political, personal and professional. My role in Menie is as a conduit to my friends there who have lived for too long in the shadow of Trump’s impact on their homes and land. I’ve learned, through my collaborations with the Menie residents that, even as a working-class photographer without money or power I can assist others in sharing their world views and personal stories in alternative ways and help, in my own way, to make social change for the better. ”
Banner Image: ‘Mike and Sheila Forbes: Mill of Menie’ Portrait by Alicia Bruce, 2010. National Galleries of Scotland Collection