Ian MacKenzie (1958–2009)

Professor Donald E Meek remembers Ian MacKenzie, photographer with Celtic and Scottish Studies.

Ian MacKenzie passed away at home on 20 December 2009, leaving those who knew him with an immense sense of loss.

Inspired by home

Born in Inverness on 6 July, 1958, Ian grew up in a distillery cottage in Tomatin.

Following Inverness High School, Ian obtained a diploma in Photography at Napier College and a masters from the Royal College of Art, London.

Prolonged absence led him to appreciate everyday things in his home village.

A photography project there was his first experience in ethnological documentation, resulting in an exhibition at the Inverness Museum.

Self-effacing and tactful

Ian began work at the School of Scottish Studies in 1985, where he remained until his untimely death.

His duties included maintaining the website, curating the Photographic Archive, photographing and recording performers, events and mounting exhibitions in Scotland and abroad.

Colleagues and students remember Ian MacKenzie as a self-effacing, unobtrusive facilitator of their work, with a quiet sense of humour and tactful manner.

He was an ideal teacher, commenting without any sense of superiority on the composition, light, and ethnological significance of his own work and that of others.

Notes

Professor Donald Meek is based with Celtic and Scottish Studies.

An extended version of this obituary will be published in the spring edition of Bulletin.