Luke Fowler : Bogman Palmjaguar

Luke Fowler artist talk Wednesday 5th March 7pm

Bogman Bluequatz Palmjaguar is a portrait of a man who after a series of disturbing events became distrustful of people and withdrew into nature. Bogman describes himself as “the hidden cat” and “wild outlaw of paradise” and is fighting against a diagnosis that that brands him as a “paranoid schizophrenic”.

Bogman’s early life, and the diagnosis, subsequently conditioned his relationships with others, both within and beyond the medical establishment. The decision to take legal action to remove this label is of paramount importance to him, both as a search for justice and to seek reason in the course his life has taken over the past three decades.

The film was shot across two visits to Bogman’s home in a remote village in the north of Scotland. The former was motivated by Bogmans solicitor’s request of an independent report by Dr. Leon Redler1 to assess whether the label “paranoid schizophrenic” was justified. The later was in collaboration with Lee Patterson2, whose evocative field recordings document the environment which Bogman sought to preserve during his time as a conservationist.

Bogman had been passionate about the threatened habitat of Scotland’s Flow Country; a wilderness made of blanket bogs and Peatlands that houses a unique diversity of wildlife. However the peatlands also became a hide-out, when Bogman fled attempts to section him. The film is a reconciliation of the young conservationist with his older self; isolated and withdrawn from society.

Made in 2007, this is the film’s first screening in Scotland.

Luke Fowler lives and works in Glasgow. Recent exhibitions include Saturn Falling, Corridor Gallery, Reykavik, Prague Biennale 3, Prague and EAST international 2007, Norwich Gallery, Norwich School of Art & Design, Norwich.

Transmission Gallery would like to thank The Modern Institute.

Luke Fowler
Bogman Palmjaguar