THE Scottish hotel which sparked offence with a “We love the Highland Clearances” image on its website has apologised and taken it down.
The Address Glasgow, which is set to be the first Scottish location for the Irish chain the Address Collective, had been called out after it used an image of the controversial neon sign.
Also included in the image were slogans such as “We love Parsimony”, and less controversial examples such as “We love Robert Burns” and “We love Bonnie Prince Charlie”.
In a statement issued on Friday, a spokesperson for the Address Collective said: “We are deeply sorry for any offence we have caused.”
They added that they had “taken this image down from the website”.
In its place is a photo of the Finnieston Crane and the Clyde Arc bridge.
The controversial “We love the Highland Clearances” image was an photo showing a section of the larger artwork “We love real life Scotland”.
Created by the visual artist Professor Ross Sinclair, the artwork was displayed at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art in 2015 and 2016.
Sinclair’s complete piece also includes phrases such as “We love Bannockburn 1314” and “We love Culloden 1746”.
In an abstract to accompany the work, written in 2015, Sinclair said: “It’s a celebration, a commiseration, a joy, a cringe and all at the same time.”
The artist told The National he was “completely in the dark” over the use of his work on the hotel’s website.
He added that the entire piece may be put on display again in the near future but that he is unlikely to include the Highland Clearances signage due to concerns of it “being misunderstood out of context”.
Rob Gibson, a former SNP MSP who has authored several books on Highland history including The Highland Clearances Trail, told The National of the image on the hotel’s website: “The brutality of the clearances in Ireland during the same period means that this use of the phrase is not just inappropriate it is insulting.”
The Highland Clearances, the forced eviction of Scots from their ancient homes as land-owning gentry wanted to clear space for farming or hunting, took place in two main waves from 1780-1855, according to the Scottish History Society.
The Irish Famine Clearances took place between 1849 and 1854 and saw 100,000 farm families evicted by landlords and their holdings absorbed into larger estates, according to resources from state broadcaster RTE.
The Address Collective runs three locations in Ireland and is due to open in Glasgow in late 2023.
