I’ve Only Been Here Half My Life, a video exhibition by Jessie Growden, connects the artist’s personal experiences of growing up as a woman in Hawick to the town’s industrial heritage within the international textiles trade.

Exploring Hawick’s former Peter Scott Knitwear mill, this newly commissioned work encompasses documentary, memoir, artefacts rescued from the factory floor, and a new book featuring images of the mill following its closure.

I’ve Only Been Here Half My Life consists of several video works, two of which capture and document the Peter Scott mill as it was during the summer and winter of 2018. Two other videos interweave present and remembered views of Hawick, including excerpts from the artist’s own teenage diary, with artefacts rescued from the mill – neck labels on the one hand, postcards sent to the factory from Sweden and Norway during the 1960s on the other. 

This exhibition took place in November 2021 as part of The Teviot, the Flag and the Rich, Rich Soil, an Alchemy Film & Arts programme exploring the borders, boundaries and lines of Hawick and the Scottish Borders.