Tag: exhibition

Edinburgh hosts landmark exhibition confronting slavery’s enduring legacy

The first international exhibition from the world-renowned Legacy Museum arrives in Scotland for a limited run at Edinburgh International Festival from 8 to 30 August

This August, UK audiences will have a rare opportunity to experience one of the most powerful cultural exhibitions ever created about slavery, racial injustice and their continuing legacy.

Opening on 8 August, The Legacy of Slavery brings the work of the internationally acclaimed Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama to Scotland – and marks the first occasion the Museum has created a major exhibition outside the United States. 

Presented by Edinburgh International Festival in the spectacular surroundings of the Playfair Library Hall in one of Scotland’s great civic institutions, the exhibition coordinated by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) invites visitors to confront the history of slavery across the Atlantic world and consider how its consequences continue to shape modern society. 

The Legacy of Slavery is an immersive, hour-long experience. Visitors travel through centuries of history, from the transatlantic slave trade and the economics of enslavement to segregation, racial terror, mass incarceration and contemporary inequalities within systems of justice. 

Founded by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), the Legacy Museum has become internationally recognised for transforming public understanding of slavery and racial injustice through rigorous historical research and powerful storytelling. 

The exhibition is guided by the work of Bryan Stevenson, founder of the EJI and one of the world’s most influential advocates for justice and human rights.

Through decades of legal advocacy, Stevenson has challenged wrongful convictions, overturned death sentences and sparked international conversations about how societies reckon with difficult histories. 

Bryan Stevenson said: “We are thrilled to bring a part of the Legacy Sites to Edinburgh for this exciting festival.

“The relationship between art, music, and justice is deep, profound, and ancient.  So much of the world’s most extraordinary creative works have been shaped by eras of inequality, bigotry, and injustice.

“The Legacy Museum documents and explores a painful part of America’s history, which should deepen visitors’ appreciation of the extraordinary music and creative expression this history has inspired.”

Festival Director, Nicola Benedetti said: “The Edinburgh International Festival was founded in 1947 as an act of reconciliation, built on the belief that art and dialogue together could help humanity reckon with its darkest chapters and find a way forward.

“That is what this work with The Legacy Museum offers: a chance to bring the International Festival’s tradition of ideas and conversation into direct contact with one of the most searching acts of historical reckoning being made anywhere today. Hosting the first ever international exhibition of The Legacy Museum is a profound expression of our founding purpose.

“With this year’s International Festival we are placing a particular spotlight on the United States, and this exhibition sits at its heart. Running from the 8th to the 30th of August, it will sit alongside performances and works that explore the same history from different artistic angles, from theatre works Angels in America and HANG TIME to Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s monumental symphony Black, Brown and Beige.

“Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative have created something that demands our attention, our honesty and our willingness to sit with discomfort in the service of truth. This exhibition is free and open to everyone, and we hope as many people as possible will come and see it.”

The exhibition, which is focused on the Legacy of Slavery in the US, also includes some context on Scotland’s connections to transatlantic slavery. The exhibit explores the evolution of slavery in America using multiple forms of immersive content and material documenting the past all the way to the present.

Presented within the Edinburgh International Festival’s 2026 programme, which marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, The Legacy of Slavery sits at the heart of the Festival’s wider examination of freedom, hypocrisy and the contradictions that have shaped the modern world.

Tickets are free, book online www.eif.co.uk

The Legacy of Slavery runs from 8–30 August 2026.

Scottish Portrait Awards announce shortlist for this year’s exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland

The Scottish Portrait Awards 2026 

National Galleries Scotland: Portrait 

Exhibition will run from 18 November 2026 – 11 April 2027 

Free Admission 

Over 180 artists from Orkney to Dumfries and Galloway and beyond, including some who have never publicly shown their work before, have been shortlisted for the Scottish Portrait Awards 2026.

The selected works will go on display alongside the nation’s magnificent collection of art at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait from 18 November 2026. 

A total of 187 works were chosen from nearly 2,500 entries across three categories including Fine Art, Photography and the free to enter, Scotland Now! Phone Portrait Awards. These include nine nominations for the Young Fine Artist Award and nine nominations for the Young Photographer Award. 

Judges were wowed by the vibrance and creativity of this year’s submissions, championing the incredible talent of Scottish artists. Now in its ninth year, the Scottish Portrait Awards, Scotland’s largest awards in portraiture will be bigger than ever, as the National Galleries of Scotland partner with the Scottish Arts Trust for the first time. 

Robyn Jenkins, an animation student at Edinburgh College of Art, who at 18 is one of the youngest artists to be selected, said, ‘To walk into the Great Hall and know my work is hanging in the National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an absolute dream. 

“After visiting the galleries so many times, it feels surreal to have my work share the space of the incredible art I’ve admired for so long.”

Shortlisted artists captured the imagination and in collaboration with their sitters, have shone a spotlight on diverse stories and experiences in today’s society.

The exhibition at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait will feature dynamic works from vibrant paintings of family members, to moving photographs of athletes, uplifting moments of celebration, unique fashion portraits and LGBTQ+ communities.

Capturing a snapshot of what it means to live in Scotland today, the exhibition will celebrate the artists who capture these moments in time.

Each shortlisted artist will have the opportunity to win the John Clark Motor Group Scottish Portrait Awards in Fine Art or the MPB Scottish Portrait Awards in Photography plus £5,000 and a commission from the National Galleries of Scotland to make a portrait for Scotland’s national collection. 

Open to anyone over 16 years, born, living or studying in Scotland, regardless of experience, the Scottish Portrait Awards brings together well-established artists as well as newcomers working in many different styles – not only in painting and sculpture but also, for the first time, animated portraits will feature in the exhibition. 

The prize-winners will be announced on the opening week of the exhibition in November during the awards events at the National Galleries Scotland: Portrait before opening to the public from 18 November 2026 – 11 April 2027. 

From over 600 works submitted, 64 portraits have been shortlisted by the judging panel for the John Clark Motor Group Scottish Portrait Awards in Fine Art. 

The range of fine art media – painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, sculpture, animation and film – and materials used reflect the many approaches to making a portrait. Self-portraits, together with depictions of family, friends and admired figures, capture moments in time. 

Visitors to the exhibition will discover works exploring the passing of time, identity, relationships, vulnerability, play, the natural world and human nature.  

Judges selected 63 pictures from more than 800 entries submitted for the MPB Scottish Portrait Awards in Photography. 

More than just pictures of people, these images exemplify a broad range of approaches to photography and portraiture today. They challenge us, spark joy, create conversation, tell stories and share different points of view.

The portraits demonstrate different photographic methods and techniques, from the documentary to the surreal, and from older analogue processes to digital photography. Indicative of the scope covered by this year’s awards, the subjects represented in the exhibition range in age from a newborn baby to a centenarian. 

The awards also encouraged everyone across Scotland, aged over 16 years, to send photos taken on a phone to its free to enter competition. 60 works shortlisted for the Scotland Now! Phone Portrait Awards, will go on display on a screen in the gallery, championing the art of photography at all levels. 

Throughout the exhibition, visitors will explore themes of care, kinship and interconnectedness through the eyes of others.  

Gordon Mitchell RSW RSA RGI, Director, Scottish Portrait Awards and Fine Art Chair, said: ‘We’re bringing the country’s biggest and most prestigious portrait awards to a world-class national stage.

“Nothing compares to standing in a major gallery and experiencing the breadth and intimacy of the artworks firsthand.” 

Simon Murphy, Chair of Photography, said: ‘Showcasing established and emerging artists together in a single exhibition isn’t just about sharing gallery space, it creates a powerful dialogue and democratic opportunity.

“Add a major national collection as a backdrop and you create an electric energy that is rarely experienced.”

Anne Lyden, Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: ‘Portraiture shows us what it is to be human – to connect and foster empathetic relationships. This year’s entries embody this and more, capturing life in Scotland in the most beautiful way.

“It has been inspiring and moving to experience the work of artists who have previously entered and to see how participating has furthered their practice.

“The judges were enthralled by the range of submissions and captivated by the artists skill, storytelling and personal statements. We are delighted to have the opportunity to share this with our visitors in November and hope everyone can join us in celebrating the incredible artistic talent Scotland has to offer.’ 

Since its inception, the awards have discovered and recognised almost 500 artists whose work features in the Scottish Portrait Awards online archive.

Many of the artists have continued to advance their careers with exhibitions and commissions. Previous award winners include Helen Wilson, Robin Gillanders and Graeme Wilcox. 

Granton pupils bring 30 years of Capital’s heritage to life

Granton Primary School children using the 30th anniversary of the Old and News Towns World Heritage Site in Edinburgh as inspiration to create an exhibition to help mark this important milestone.

The children’s artwork will be displayed in a special exhibition for residents and visitors to view in the Museum of Edinburgh later this year to celebrate three decades since the Site was inscribed by UNESCO in 1995.

The class of primary four pupils are working with local artist Stephanie Walker on their ‘Imagine if…’ project to help the children put together artwork using the Old Town to help spark excitement and curiosity for the world around us. The aim of the project is to create a connection and a sense of wonder for the valuable heritage Edinburgh is so famous for.

 Local artist Stepanie Walker said: “The project has been designed to guide the children through a series of art sessions to help them imagine and create their final piece to display on canvas.

 “Before our visit to the World Heritage Site we explored what we know about Edinburgh. The children brainstormed and shared ideas about famous buildings and drew them to create a class exhibition.

 “We visited the Museum of Edinburgh on the Royal Mile and learnt about why the city has a World Heritage Site, explored artefacts in the museum and shared what we had discovered.

 “We visited the Site twice walking around the cobbled streets and narrow closes in and around the Royal Mile. The children looked carefully at the old buildings, monuments and skylines as well as all the nature we found in the historic area. We visited the Canongate Kirk, and I encouraged the children to imagine what the people who lived there long ago were like.

 “The pupils then made sketches and used water colours to create paintings of their favourite scenes, buildings and objects to use as reference material for the final piece they will put together back in the classroom.”

 Cllr Joan Griffiths Planning Convener said: “This project is both creative and educational as it allows pupils from a different area of the city to use art to help bring to life different aspects of the World Heritage Site such as the buildings and skylines that they find inspirational.

“It’s wonderful to see the work they have produced and I’m very much looking forward to the final exhibition in the Museum of Edinburgh later this year. It’s important that we teach children the value of preserving our World Heritage Site for future generations to come.

“I’m hoping this class of primary four pupils will remember the project in years to come holding onto what they’ve learned about what’s special about the history of their city and will pass this on.”

Photography enthusiasts are also being encouraged to enter a competition to celebrate the 30 years milestone running until October

Entries will be grouped into twelve categories, each celebrating a particular value of Scotland’s capital city. The winning photograph in each category will become part of a year-long calendar, which will be sold on Historic Scotland sites and at Edinburgh World Heritage events to raise money for the Trust.

The over-all winner will take pride of place on the front cover of the calendar and will receive a one-year membership for Historic Scotland, who run top-rated visitor attractions all over the country.

New exhibition explores how the Second World War shaped life in Queensferry

The Second World War Comes to Queensferry has been developed in partnership with the Queensferry History Group and reveals how the community experienced the upheaval of war.

Queensferry occupied a strategically important position during the Second World War because of its proximity to the Firth of Forth, the naval base at Port Edgar and the iconic Forth Bridge. Local residents lived with the constant awareness that Scotland’s east coast played a crucial role in Britain’s wartime defence and witnessed the first Luftwaffe attack over Britain.

Through a local perspective, the exhibition examines the conflict through the eyes of ordinary people living in and around Queensferry.

Many of the photographs, stories and research featured in the exhibition come directly from community collections and local investigations carried out by the Queensferry History Group, helping to preserve memories that might otherwise have been lost.

Culture and Communities Convener Margaret Graham said: “The Queensferry History Group has created an invaluable record of the town’s past, and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to work with them to bring this exhibition to life.

“By working closely with local people to shape how we present and interpret history, exhibitions like this help to uncover personal stories, family memories, and community perspectives, making the past more meaningful, engaging and accessible for visitors of all ages.

“I hope visitors will take the opportunity to visit the exhibition and discover a deeper understanding on the events that have shaped our shared heritage.”

A spokesperson from the Queensferry History Group said: “Queensferry History Group, a volunteer research group, has been meeting for almost 40 years, through the years, seeing varying faces and places but ultimately bringing the History of Queensferry to the local and wider community.

“This recent project is to commemorate the men who fought and died for Queensferry during World War Two, to bring their stories to life and to introduce some who fought and returned home.

“We researched the war history of the men and the battles they fought in. We searched through earlier transcripts of interviews with community members recorded some years ago.

They contained stories of people’s personal experiences, witnessing the first air attack of the War, in Britain, which was on ships in the Forth.  How the children felt being sent away from their families as evacuees, how people coped with rationing and many more effects on the community back then.

“We are proud to bring this exhibition to our community now.”

The Second World War Comes to Queensferry is on display at the Queensferry Museum, which offers spectacular views across the Firth of Forth, until 30 April 2027.

For further information, visit the Culture Edinburgh website.

New exhibition celebrates the life and legacy of Edinburgh photographer Sandra George

This summer, the City Art Centre will present Start from the Level, the largest exhibition ever staged of the work of Sandra George (1957–2013).

Start from the Level is produced in partnership with Craigmillar Now, an arts and heritage centre based in Craigmillar, who hold Sandra’s collection in their community archive, and is part of the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Opening on 27 June and running until 27 September 2026, the exhibition brings together photographs spanning more than two decades, many of which will be shown publicly for the first time. Drawn from Sandra’s extensive archive, the exhibition offers a powerful portrait of Edinburgh’s communities and explores themes of identity, activism, motherhood, belonging, and social justice.

Born in Nottingham and raised between Jamaica and the UK before settling in Edinburgh, she became widely known for her work as a community organiser and advocate. Alongside this, she developed a prolific photographic practice, documenting everyday life across Edinburgh and beyond from the late 1970s through to the early 2000s.

Through her lens, she captured both intimate personal moments and wider social movements, creating a remarkable visual record of the city and the people who shaped it. Her photographs are united by a deep sense of humanity and a commitment to representing people with dignity, openness, and care.

The exhibition takes its title from Sandra’s own words: her desire to “start from the level people are based”. This guiding principle informed her work throughout her life, resulting in an extraordinary body of photography that remains as relevant and resonant today as ever.

Culture and Communities Convener Margaret Graham said: “Sandra George’s photographs offer an invaluable record of Edinburgh and its communities, seen through the eyes of someone deeply committed to social justice, equality, and human connection.

“This landmark exhibition celebrates not only her extraordinary talent as a photographer, but also her lasting contribution to the cultural and community life of our city.

“We are proud to bring this important body of work to audiences and ensure that Sandra’s legacy continues to inspire future generations.”

In addition to the exhibition at City Art Centre, a special outdoor presentation of Sandra’s work will be displayed on street-side billboard and poster sites across Edinburgh from 22 June for three weeks in partnership with BuildHollywood.

Featuring photographs taken throughout the city, the displays will appear in Fountain Park, Teviot and Meadowbank, bringing George’s images directly into the public spaces she documented.

Find out more on the Culture Edinburgh website.

National Galleries of Scotland kicks off Pride Month with announcement of Catherine Opie’s powerful photographic portaits at the National this Summer

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen

National Galleries of Scotland exhibition – the Royal Scottish Academy building

Saturday 8 August – Sun 1 November 2026

Tickets £3.50 – £14 | Friends and under 18s go free

Catherine Opie | To Be Seen | National Galleries of Scotland

Discover powerful photographic portraits by groundbreaking American artist Catherine Opie in the National Galleries of Scotland’s showstopping summer exhibition.

Curated in collaboration with the artist, Catherine Opie: To Be Seen is Opie’s first ever solo exhibition in Scotland.

Specially adapted for presentation at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, To Be Seen presents a unique experience of the people, communities and stories in the art of Catherine Opie.

The exhibition comes to Edinburgh from the National Portrait Gallery in London, having already received rave reviews from the likes of The Guardian and the Independent, with Time Out calling it ‘something worth celebrating’.

Tickets are on sale now and for the first time, under 18s can visit the National Galleries of Scotland summer exhibition for free.

Explore nearly 80 vibrant portraits by Opie alongside her selection of works from Scotland’s national art collection. Displayed across seven rooms in the Royal Scottish Academy building, come face to face with Opie’s mentors and collaborators, Queer communities, children, surfers, high school footballers and political crowds as well as self-portraits of the artist.

See Opie’s work alongside a selection of 13 paintings from the national collection in arrangements prompting new narratives around ideas of identity. Join Opie as she questions ‘what is identity right now, and how do we look at it?

Where and how do we belong’. Documenting people brought together by common experiences or a shared sense of identity, Opie celebrates these communities by making them visible and offers us a platform to recognise ourselves in her exquisite and colourful images.

Thought-provoking and visually powerful, her striking work challenges who is represented in art and who remains unseen. Depicting a world made meaningful through connection, the artist says: ‘If you can walk away having a little better understanding about being human, that’s what I care about the most.’

One of the most influential artists of our time, Opie’s work is driven by the urgency to examine the ebb and flow of human culture and communities. Journey through 35 years of the artist’s work as she questions representations of home, intimacy and family, and explores politics, identity and power structures.

At the basis of her practice is her ongoing questioning of evolving ideas of community, identity and belonging. For Opie, portraiture is a radical act of representation – a desire to make the invisible visible and a gesture of belonging and resistance. Opie’s art attests to a great sense of humanity and care.

Whether as a university professor, a mother, a member of the Queer community, an American, or a world citizen, her portraits of fellow artists, friends, children and protestors draw attention to the power of visibility.

From photographs covering Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, Tea Party rallies, and LGBTQ+ rights protests, to tender family moments and vulnerable self-portraits, Opie’s photographs collapse divisions between the personal and the political. 

Experience Opie’s portraits alongside works such as Benedetto Gennari’s Elizabeth Murray, Duchess of Lauderdale and Pablo Picasso’s Mère et enfant and consider how history is recorded through portraiture.

Opie says, ‘What first drew me to photography was the idea that history was being made and language was being made through images.’

The artist has long been influenced by historic portraits, taking early inspiration from Hans Holbein the Younger. Inspired by Holbein’s precise renderings of nobility, Opie sought to give stature to her friends and challenge notions of ‘normality’.

Opie’s first major work, Being and Having (1991) is her own representation of identity challenging gender norms. Comprised of 13 closely cropped portraits of Opie and her friends enacting their masculine personas, Opie considers these her ‘own royal portraits,’ and affirms that ‘without representation, there is no visibility’.

To Be Seen will span the artist’s most famous works, with Opie’s own identity also threaded through the exhibition. Works range from ennobling portraits of the artist’s LGBTQ+ friends, Baroque inspired portraits of artists, images chronicling the likes of 1990s West-Coast leather dyke scene alongside her own experiences of family life and community.

Opie says, ‘I like to think that portraiture literally creates a history of one’s community’. The exhibition’s wide-ranging portraits span intimate studio shots capturing moments of vulnerability, pride and resilience to socially engaged documentary narratives.

Born 1961 in Sandusky, Ohio— the American Midwest—Opie got her first Kodak camera at the age of 9 and remembers, ‘I photographed everything around me’.

Her fascination with photography continued throughout her childhood after she moved to California at the age of 13. She fashioned her teenage years, through friendships forged by taking photographs of school plays. Opie was later encouraged to study photography at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Moving to the city she worked and lodged at the Kenmore Residence Club, coming out as a lesbian and having her first significant relationship.

Later, Opie studied for a master’s at the California Institute of the Arts, where she developed her critical approach and secured her technical knowledge.

Rising to prominence in the early 1990s, Opie has since been at the cutting edge of documentary and portrait photography. She taught at UCLA for 25 years and was the Endowed Chair, Department of Art at UCLA (2021–23), retiring in 2023. Opie currently lives and works in Los Angeles. 

Domestic 40×50

Catherine Opie said: ‘After my first visit to Edinburgh it is a deep privilege and honour in bringing To Be Seen to a place that immediately felt like home.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know Scotland in the exchange of ideas and humanity when I return in August.“

Anne Lyden, Director General of National Galleries of Scotland, said: ‘One of the most significant artists of our time, Catherine Opie is really not to be missed this summer!

“We are so excited to be working with the National Portrait Gallery, London, to host the artist’s first ever solo exhibition in Scotland. We cannot wait to share these incredibly powerful and human portraits with the people of Edinburgh and beyond.

“Opie’s life’s work resonates with our values to offer our audiences a feeling of community, connection and fun! We hope that our visitors find these moments while they explore this wonderful exhibition by a truly groundbreaking artist.’

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen is a National Galleries Scotland exhibition taking place in the Royal Scottish Academy building, opening on 8 August 2026. 

Tickets on sale now! 

The exhibition also forms part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, the UK’s largest annual festival of visual art, from 14 – 30 August, presenting alternative perspectives across the breadth of the city.

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen is kindly supported by the players of Postcode Lottery and Friends of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Creative Connections Schools Exhibition at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh

Fruitmarket opens an exhibition championing the creativity of Edinburgh primary school pupils

Fruitmarket’s Creative Connections exhibition marks the culmination of a pioneering three-year programme that places artists in schools to embed creative learning in the classroom. This year’s Creative Connections exhibition will be open to the public on 29.05.26–31.05.26 from 11am–6pm at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh.

The exhibition features artwork inspired by Fruitmarket’s programme, created by Primary 5–7 pupils across six primary schools in South Edinburgh: Craigour Park, Gracemount, Gilmerton, Liberton, Prestonfield and St Catherine’s R.C. Primary.

Since 2023, Fruitmarket has worked in close partnership with classes across the six primary schools in South Edinburgh. The schools have been paired with practising visual artists who have been in residence at the schools, working with pupils on creative projects supported by regular visits to the gallery.

The six artists are Alice Dansey-Wright, Coral Brookes, Georgie Fay, Greer Pester, Kate Temple and Lorna Gallagher. Through regular professional development sessions, Lead Artist Louise Fraser has supported teachers to develop new skills and the confidence to embed arts pedagogy in the classroom across the three years.

Creative Connections was created by Fruitmarket, in close collaboration with participating schools, in response to a demand for creative provision in Primary schools and a focus on pupil wellbeing and confidence following the Covid-19 Pandemic. The project was made possible at this scale and depth through a multi-year grant from Paul Hamlyn Foundation and now has set a benchmark for educational visual arts programmes in Scotland.

Over three years, 757 pupils aged 8 – 11, 23 classroom teachers and six headteachers have participated.

Artists worked with the same classes across the academic year, providing consistent mentoring for pupils and ongoing support for classroom teachers. At the end of each year, pupils showcased their work in a public exhibition celebrating achievement and strengthening connections between schools, families and the gallery.

This year’s cohort has drawn inspiration from recent Fruitmarket exhibitions including What Is Us and What Is Earth, by Glasgow-based artist Ilana Halperin and Wilding, by the Indigenous American artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith.

One Headteacher said: “I think what’s really made the difference in this project is the fact that we have had the opportunity to work over a number of years. It is not unusual for us to be able to have a project that comes in for a term or a couple of lessons and children enjoy it and they go away afterwards, but it’s that sustainable impact that we don’t necessarily see to the same degree.

“The chance to build up a relationship with an actual artist, to build up a relationship with a gallery has a huge impact for the staff, for the school, also for the children as well, who really, I think, feel that the Fruitmarket is their gallery because of this extended time they’ve had together.

“That depth of the project has been something I’ve not actually seen that before in a project I’ve worked with in my 30 years in education.”

Fiona Bradley, Fruitmarket Director, said: “Over the course of three years, though our ongoing project evaluation, we have seen how working closely with artists in the inclusive context of contemporary art spaces –where there are no right or wrong answers – can help both pupils and teachers express themselves and grow in confidence. 

“The annual exhibitions of pupils’ and teachers’ work at Fruitmarket are something we look forward to every year and give our audiences the opportunity to share in a moment of pride with pupils, teachers and families.

“We are very proud that the project has become so valued by the schools, and we have committed to continue to deliver the programme in the new school year in a sustainable form. We are actively fundraising for the continuation of the project and we are very grateful to the funders who are already help make this possible.”

Kevina Khan, Grants Manager, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, said: “Creative Connections shows the incredible things that can happen when artists, teachers and pupils collaborate.

“Through the programme, artists-in-residence and teachers have been building meaningful relationships and finding ways to bring the expressive arts into the curriculum for excellence.

“The impact on children’s educational outcomes, confidence, wellbeing and engagement is powerful.

“The professional learning element of the programme means that these creative approaches to teaching and learning will have a lasting legacy.”

Creative Connections Schools Exhibition

29.05.26–31.05.26, 11am–6pm daily.

Fruitmarket, 45 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DF

The Edwardians – Age of Elegance at The King’s Gallery, Edinburgh

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance 

The King’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse 

24 April – 6 December 2026 

A glamorous, never-before-exhibited portrait of Queen Mary and a miniature sleigh made of rock crystal will be among highlights on show in Scotland for the first time in a major exhibition opening tomorrow. 

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance will explore the glitzy world of two of Britain’s most fashionable royal couples – King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary – through their family connections, royal events, global travels and art collecting. 

The exhibition will open in Edinburgh following a successful run in London and is the first Royal Collection Trust exhibition to explore the Edwardian era. It will bring together more than 150 items including fashion, paintings and books, as well as personal items such as jewellery, photographs and chinaware, more than half of which are on show in Scotland for the first time.

Visitors will see works from the Royal Collection by many of the period’s most celebrated names, including Fabergé, Tiffany & Co, and Edward Burne-Jones, and depictions of famous faces including composer Sir Edward Elgar. 

Curator Kathryn Jones said: ‘The Edwardian era was a golden age of glamour and parties, but it was so much more than that; it was a fast-paced period making great advances in technology.

“Our royal couples wanted to make the most of it all, living lavishly and embracing new trends, before the sobering arrival of war. Throughout, they were collecting art as a way to hold onto tradition and capture the rapidly changing world around them. We hope that visitors to the exhibition will enjoy stepping back in time to this exciting period.’ 

In 1863, Queen Victoria’s eldest son Albert Edward married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The marriage of the fashionable young couple – the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra – initiated a glamorous new era for the royal family, with Queen Victoria still in mourning and away from public life.

Edward and Alexandra established a new, vibrant court filled with opulent balls, society events and contemporary art – a lifestyle continued by their son, the future King George V, and his wife Queen Mary. 

Full-length portraits of the two Queens will open the exhibition, showcasing the spectacular fashions of the era. The portraits of Queen Alexandra by François Flameng, and Queen Mary by William Samuel Henry Llewellyn (which has never before been on public display) will be shown alongside marble busts of their husbands, Kings Edward and George.

Both couples were fond of Scotland, with Edward having studied at the University of Edinburgh and George and Mary making regular visits and devotedly modernising the Palace of Holyroodhouse to make it once again suitable for royal entertaining.

Displays will evoke the interiors of the royal couples’ private residences, Marlborough House and Sandringham House, where the Edwardian fashion of filling every cabinet and covering every surface small decorative objects or family photographs reigned. 

A star object on display for the first time in Scotland is a paperweight shaped like a tiny 10cm-tall sledge with a figure lying on it by Robert Colquhon. Thought to have been Scottish, Colquhon was a goldsmith based in Russia who made small-scale decorative objects from rock crystal and silver of snowy subjects like sleighs and bears on ice floes.

Edward and Alexandra collected several of his works – with one of his sleighs appearing in a photograph of Alexandra’s desk in Marlborough House in the 1890s. 

Visitors will also learn of the relationships linking the family to the rest of Europe. Fabergé was introduced to the British royal family through Alexandra’s sister Dagmar, who had married Alexander III, Tsar of Russia.

The royal patronage caused the popularity of Fabergé to soar in the UK, and on show will be 21 items from the firm, including an ornate picture frame holding a photograph of Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife; a cigarette case famously given to Edward by his official mistress Mrs Keppel; and six miniature figures of the royal couple’s favourite animals on the Sandringham estate. 

As enthusiastic patrons of the arts, the Edwardians embraced new artistic movements including Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts, and the burgeoning medium of photography. Alexandra was particularly taken with the drawings of the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones, whose study for a larger painting inspired by Sleeping Beauty will be on display. A soft-focus photograph of Alexandra by photographer Alice Hughes was typical of her pioneering yet delicate style, and both are on display in Scotland for the first time.

Garden parties formed an essential part of the Edwardian social calendar, with the first taking place at the Palace of Holyroodhouse during the much-anticipated visit of George and Mary in 1911. Danish painter Laurits Tuxen had been introduced to Queen Victoria through her daughter-in-law Alexandra, and his painting of a garden party at Buckingham Palace captures the spirit of the joyous occasion. 

Contributions to society were also celebrated through the founding of the Order of Merit in 1902 to recognise prominent figures in cultural, scientific or military life. George commissioned a portrait of each recipient – a tradition that continues to this day – and drawings of Sir Edward Elgar and the physicist Sir J.J. Thomson by Scottish artist William Strang will be on display for the first time in Scotland. 

The turn of the century saw great improvements to methods of travel, and the Edwardian royals travelled further than any previous members of the royal family – collecting and receiving gifts as they went. In February 1901, George and Mary set sail for 10 months on HMS Ophir to open the new federal parliament in Melbourne, Australia. To mark the occasion, the ‘Ladies of Adelaide’ gave Mary a richly embroidered silk hanging featuring a eucalyptus tree and local varieties of irises and orchids. 

George and Mary visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse in July 1914, only a few weeks before the outbreak of the First World War. The glamour of the Edwardian era was being eclipsed by a serious atmosphere of duty – a sentiment led by the King, as Herbert Arnould Olivier’s study of King George V and Frank O. Salisbury’s painting The Passing of the Unknown Warrior, King George V as Chief Mourner, Whitehall attest. 

Collecting had now become a way to honour the many sacrifices made in the Great War; a more restrained and dutiful monarchy had emerged. 

The King’s Gallery will continue to offer £1 tickets for visitors receiving Universal Credit and other named benefits. Other concessionary rates are available, including discounted tickets for Young People, half-price entry for children (with under-fives free), and the option to convert standard tickets bought directly from Royal Collection Trust into a 1-Year Pass for unlimited re-entry for 12 months.

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance is at The King’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, 24 April – 6 December 2026. 

Visitor information and tickets for The King’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse: www.rct.uk, T. +44 (0)303 123 7306. 

The King’s Gallery will be open seven days a week from opening until 7 September 2026, when it will be open for five days (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays) until 6 December 2026. 

Instagram: @royalcollectiontrust Facebook: @royalcollectiontrust X: @RCT 

Celebrating the work of the Drill Hall resident artists and makers

  • Cellular Exhibition – Tuesday 14th to Friday 24th April
  • Exciting FREE exhibition showcasing the work of Drill Hall residents
  • Featuring over 20 artists and makers from paintings and illustration to jewellery
  • Meet the artists: Wednesday 15th April (6.30pm – 8.30pm)

Out of the Blue Drill Hall is excited to host a new exhibition showcasing the work of over 20 of its resident artists and makers, from painters and illustrators to jewellery makers and printmakers. 

This 6th showcase exhibition will run from Tuesday 14th to Friday 24th April (10am to 5pm) with an opportunity to meet the artists and makers on Wednesday 15th April from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at the official exhibition launch.

Every great work of art starts with a single cell – a solitary thought, a lone brushstroke, a single spark. The artists and makers of the Drill Hall emerge from their individual workspaces to weave these threads together. 

Cellular invites you to explore a diverse ecosystem of work, bridging the gap between the maker’s private process and the public’s gaze.

With so many artists and makers taking part, there really is something for everyone. Painters include award-winning artist Daniel Murray. Working in acrylics on board, he paints realistic portrayals of the human form and the natural world, often mixing these subjects with abstracted landscapes inspired by the highland environment he grew up in.

Leith Jewellery Studios founder Amanda McGrattan will be showing her jewellery at the exhibition. Amanda’s work has been inspired by the grit and vibrancy of graffiti and urban street art. She translates the world around her into wearable narratives using a signature blend of textured and oxidized silver, liquid and powder enamels, and vivid acrylics. 

Textile work includes pieces by Needle Bow, a garment and accessories brand, designing and producing bespoke garments and accessories, using upcycled materials wherever possible.

The exhibition is being co-curated by painter Aoife O’Callaghan and textile artist Monika Fejes of Remode Collective. They’ll both be exhibiting and showcasing their work.

Aoife comments: “I am excited to be building on our previous exhibition.  The sense of community amongst the Drill Hall tenants is growing,  and I’m looking forward showcasing some of our work in our home-studio environment.” 

Out of the Blue Chief Executive Rob Hoon adds “The Out of the Blue Drill Hall houses a huge range of creative activity, and it’s a great pleasure to see the variety and quality of artists’ work displayed in the Cellular Exhibition, for all to enjoy.”  

Details of the Cellular Exhibition, as well as a list of participating artists and makers can be found on the Drill Hall website.

Participating Artists and Makers

  • Stamped Cat (Linocut prints)
  • Violetta Palak Jones (Paintings)
  • Daniel Murray (Paintings)
  • Graeme Walker (Abstract paintings)
  • Cam Life Designs (Jewellery, precious metal weaving, painting / sculpture)
  • Solen Collet (Photography)
  • Martin Fishman (Jewellery)
  • Jacob Danson Faraday (Jewellery, metal work)
  • Aoife in Leith (Paintings)
  • Shamil Sokolov (Jewellery)
  • Lawfieldcrafts (Silver and glass)
  • AMcGrattanJewellery (Handmade jewellery)
  • Gillie Welstead (Silver and gold jewellery)
  • Mairi MacSween Designs (Illustration)
  • Needle Bow (Textiles)
  • Ylfa (Accessories & jewellery – head pieces, hair pins and earrings)
  • Second Sun (Silver jewellery)
  • Elaine Wilson (Painting and tapestry)
  • Guy Howe Conners (Jewellery)
  • Samuel Watterworth (Plotter art)
  • Felicity Inkpen (Paintings, drawings and prints)
  • Knockwood Studio (Music and its visualisations)
  • Remode Collective (Mixed media textile art)

Follow Out of the Blue Drill Hall on Facebook and Instagram

Poster designed by Cameron Murdoch of CAM Life Designs.

The Digital Mirror

Discover the intriguing digital photography of Scottish artist Wendy McMurdo in her biggest ever exhibition at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait

Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror

30 May – 25 October 2026

National Galleries Scotland: Portrait

Free admission

Wendy McMurdo | The Digital Mirror | National Galleries of Scotland

From 30 May, discover leading Scottish photographer Wendy McMurdo’s biggest exhibition to date, spanning over 20 years of the artist’s career, for free at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait.

Explore McMurdo’s photographic reflections on childhood, the digital world, learning and make-believe in Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror. Featuring over 50 works, visitors will find some never-before seen photographs as well as several rarely seen digital animations newly configured to respond to the context of the historic Portrait gallery building.

McMurdo has blazed a trail in the experimental use of computers and digital tools in photography, from the early days of computer-based learning in schools to the growth of the internet and networked gaming. Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror presents the ground-breaking work of the artist, made between 1995 and 2018, exploring the evolving role of computers in children’s lives.

Coming at a time when the digital landscape is changing faster than ever before, with technology offering limitless possibilities and children spending more and more time online, the exhibition offers a fascinating response to the impact of technology on learning and play in childhood.

Growing up in Edinburgh and attending Edinburgh College of Art, McMurdo became a regular visitor to galleries and museums. She was influenced by key works in Scotland’s national art collection such as Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch (The Skating Minister), and the sculptural work of Leith-born artist Eduardo Paolozzi. 

Showing how the artist takes inspiration from the past to create photographic works like Avatar (i) and the Robot Workshop series, both the iconic Skating Minister and several Paolozzi sculptures will be displayed in the exhibition alongside McMurdo’s photographs.  Visitors will also be able explore a range of other objects which have influenced the artist’s practice.

Thinking about the evolution of play, McMurdo has selected a collection of early 20th century dolls on loan from the Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh. McMurdo has included them in the exhibition to share the lasting impact they have had on her work and ideas, and in recognition of the importance of local museums on her own creative development.

Discover McMurdo’s moving image works, created using digital animation and source material such as conversations from online gaming chatrooms.

See how she has presented these in new configurations within the National Galleries Scotland: Portrait Library and Upper Balcony areas in response to the historic building and the collection it holds.

Installed at the centre of the exhibition, is McMurdo’s large moving image work, Indeterminate Objects (Classrooms), which was originally commissioned by The Photographers’ Gallery, London in 2017.

The work combines photography with three-dimensional animated forms similar in appearance to those associated with computer games such as Minecraft.

McMurdo uses hovering shapes to cast a shadow on an empty classroom to explore how children – like adults – are increasingly subject to a world augmented by data and simulation. In making this work, McMurdo was reflecting on her observations of the pervasive nature of online games and virtual worlds and the way these digital spaces shape how children think, play and learn about themselves, each other and the world. 

The exhibition will also include a display of McMurdo’s working photography contact sheets, revealing some of the technology and processes she has evolved to generate her own dreamlike imagery. McMurdo’s photographic works often start as a result of group workshops. From multiple tests and countless variations, new bodies of work then emerge.

Many of the works in the exhibition were made during a period of rapid technological development, McMurdo delves into the ways in which the introduction of computers for example changed children’s educational experience  and the changing nature of play.

Discover Let’s Go to a Place, an installation that explores the collision between real and digital worlds, through a series of portraits of primary school children.

This body of work was created around the same time as the mobile game, Pokémon Go was at the height of popularity, the work reflects on the impact of location-based gaming and technology on children’s play, capturing the dual existence in both the physical and virtual worlds. 

McMurdo is a pioneering figure in Scottish art and a key contributor to Scotland’s international reputation as a centre for experimental contemporary art. This exhibition coincides with the bicentenary year of the Royal Scottish Academy to which McMurdo was the first woman photographer to be elected.

To coincide with the exhibition, visitors to the Library in the Portrait gallery will be able to read a new brochure. The free publication includes two new pieces of writing on McMurdo’s work by Patricia Allmer, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, University of Edinburgh and David Hopkins, Emeritus Professor of Art History, University of Glasgow. 

Wendy McMurdo said: “With new legislation focussing on the impact of online culture on children’s lives, now is a particularly apt time to revisit this body of work.

“It is an invitation to celebrate play and creativity and to consider the wider implications of new technologies on the lives of young people.”

Ben Harman, Senior Curator of Photography and Lead Curator of Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “We’re excited to have this opportunity to celebrate a pioneering body of photographic work by an artist based in Edinburgh with an internationally-renowned reputation in the world of contemporary photography.”

Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror is a free exhibition opening at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait on 30 May 2026.