Ashes Of My Dead Grandad Created A New World For My Photograms

An art student has created images of the galaxy by using his dead grandfather's ashes - to form little twinkling stars.

Photography student Alan Knox, 29, scattered the remains on photo paper to create the 15 striking pictures as his final university project.

The works pays tribute to his war hero grandfather, Duncan Marshall, who was born in 1901 and lived an active life right up until he died at the age of 97.

Alan, from Motherwell, South Lanarkshire, carefully scattered the ashes onto black photo paper to make it look like the night sky.

His artwork was just one of a number of weird and wonderful projects from Glasgow School of Art's graduating class of 2015.

Around 600 students from the institution unveiled their work yesterday, showing off  years of hard work at the departments of Architecture, Design and Fine Art.

Alan said: "Originally, I had been documenting with scattering my grandfather's ashes in places that were sensitive to him.

"But over time I felt that it was better to show the ashes in a more implicit manner.

"This photogram was the most sensitive way of doing that along with my own interest in astronomy and astrology.

"I thought about it very long and hard if this was something that he would have been comfortable with and eventually came to the conclusion that this was a fitting tribute to him.

"The piece is about questioning where we go when we die and I hope that it will allow people to think a bit about the afterlife."

Alan added: "For centuries, people have felt that space was a burial ground for the dead and people used to believe that rose to the stars and died or that stars were dead kings.

"I find astrology and astronomy interesting because it's a way to see someone's life through the star.

"I tried to create a narrative of the birth and death of a star which is on display at the degree show."

"My grandfather was born under Queen Victoria and died just after Tony Blair came to power so it's quite a sweep of history.

"He was stationed in the Netherlands during World War I and went on to become an accountant.

"He loved long walks and seemed to spend the rest of his life in his garden.

"His perseverance was always very inspiring to me and my idea was that somebody who lives a seemingly normal life can be extraordinary."