What do residents and visitors of the Isle of Canna see in the stars?
This project explores the creation of custom star maps as a collective, regional storytelling tool to connect local Scottish communities to the night sky, or ‘cosmos’. I visited the Isle of Canna (National Trust for Scotland) and engaged with residents and visitors through participatory design who connected real patterns of stars to create asterisms, or “star stories” of their experiences during Canna Naturefest 2025.
Over 30 personal asterisms or ‘star stories’ were collected from participants. The stories are based on a mixture of fond memories, flora and fauna observed around the island, local heritage, and invented folklore stories related to the Isle of Canna.