Ruth Macdougall

Ruth Macdougall is an artist from Scotland, born in Glasgow in 1981. After studying for a year at the Academie Libanais des Beaux Arts (ALBA) in Beirut, she undertook a four-year degree course in Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art and graduated in 2004 with First Class Honors. She has traveled extensively and practiced her art in South America and the Middle East, working primarily in site-specific installation/happenings and video. Currently, Ruth is working as artist-in- residence in the North West Highlands of Scotland and continues to explore ideas of separation, territory and endurance through her site-specific practice.

"Liberty Tower"

I lived in Beirut between 1999 and 2000, I shot Liberty Tower in July 2004, my first return visit to the country. The introductory text describes "a magnificent tower'', and the many enticing attributes that the area has to offer. The true image of the tower is then revealed through the heat haze of a regular late afternoon, in summer. The letters of Liberty Tower stand proudly and the sounds of children playing in the park opposite, traffic and people at work can be heard, a city alive. Slowly the image turns to night and another Liberty Tower is revealed, pulsating and dysfunctional.