From reinterpreting autism to reimagining single-use products – how one artist is changing perspectives in Edinburgh this summer
Leith’s Image Collective Gallery launches thought-provoking new exhibition ‘From Waste to Wall’ with an opportunity to meet the artist
Diagnosed with autism at the age of three, art has played an important role throughout James Owen Thomas’ life as a means of communication and expression. Now aged 21, the multi award-winning artist views his autism not as a disability, but as a different kind of ability. And it is because of James’ unique ability to change perspectives that his latest exhibition, From Waste to Wall, is sure to attract attention.
Debuting at Edinburgh’s Image Collective Gallery, From Waste to Wall features a range of thought-provoking collages, each one created using unwanted single-use products such as discarded lottery tickets. The artworks are intricately detailed – embodying James’ ethos that something genuinely beautiful can be created from items that others may deem as useless.
Speaking ahead of the exhibition opening, the North Yorkshire artist commented; “By creating collages from thousands of tiny pieces of discarded materials, I aim to make a positive statement about recycling.
“I have been exhibiting my unique style of environmental art since the age of 15 and I’m delighted to be displaying my art for the first time in Scotland this summer.”
The exhibition is being brought to Edinburgh thanks to the Image Collective Gallery owner, Sara Thomson, who first met James when they were both selected by PM Boris Johnson to become a COP26 One Step Greener Ambassador in 2021.
Explaining her appreciation of James’ work, Sara said; “When I saw James’ work displayed at COP26 I was immediately struck by how intricate and beautiful each collage is.
“I was also moved by the powerful message he is putting out there – the idea that we need to change our attitudes, behaviour, perceptions, and perspectives if we’re going to save the planet.”
The From Waste to Wall exhibitionopens to the public on Tuesday 2nd August at The Image Collective Gallery and runs until Friday 30th September. The exhibition is free to view.
James Owen Thomas will be working on a live piece of art at The Image Collective Gallery on Tuesday 2nd August, 10am – 3pm, during which all are welcome to come and meet the artist.
Sensational find to go on display in Edinburgh this summer
The National Galleries of Scotland has discovered what is almost certainly a previously unknown self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh.
Believed to be a first for a UK institution, the mysterious image was revealed by an x-ray taken when art conservators examined Van Gogh’s Head of a Peasant Woman of 1885 ahead of the forthcoming exhibition A Taste for Impressionism (30 July–13 November) at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. Visitors will be able to see the amazing x-ray image for the first timethrough a specially crafted lightbox at the centre of thedisplay.
Hidden from view for over a century, the self-portrait is on the back of the canvas with Head of a Peasant Woman and is covered by layers of glue and cardboard. NGS experts believe these materials were applied ahead of an exhibition in the early twentieth century. Van Gogh often re-used canvases to save money. However, instead of painting over earlier works, he would turn the canvas around and work on the reverse.
It may be possible to uncover the hidden self-portrait, but the process of removing the glue and cardboard will require delicate conservation work. Research is ongoing as to how that can be done without harming Head of a Peasant Woman.
Until then, the world can enjoy the tantalising discovery through a ghostly and utterly compelling x-ray image. It shows a bearded sitter in a brimmed hat with a neckerchief loosely tied at the throat. He fixes the viewer with an intense stare, the right side of his face in shadow and his left ear clearly visible.
Professor Frances Fowle, Senior Curator of French Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Moments like this are incredibly rare. We have discovered an unknown work by Vincent van Gogh, one of the most important and popular artists in the world.
“What an incredible gift for Scotland, and one that will forever be in the care of the National Galleries. We are very excited to share this thrilling discovery in our big summer exhibition A Taste for Impressionism, where the x-ray image of the self-portrait will be on view for all to see.”
The condition of the underlying self-portrait is not known but, if it can be uncovered, it is expected to help shed new light on this enigmatic and beguiling artist.
Later in date than the Head of a Peasant Woman, the hidden painting is likely to have been made during a key moment in Van Gogh’s career, when he was exposed to the work of the French impressionists after moving to Paris. The experience had a profound effect and was a major influence on why he adopted a more colourful and expressive style of painting – one that is so much admired today.
Head of a Peasant Woman entered the NGS collection in 1960, as part of the gift of an Edinburgh lawyer, Alexander Maitland, in memory of his wife Rosalind. Dating from an early period in Van Gogh’s career, the painting shows a local woman from the town of Nuenen in the south of the Netherlands, where the artist lived from December 1883 to November 1885.
Painted in March or April 1885, it seems to be a likeness of Gordina de Groot (known as Sien) who was a model for Van Gogh’s early masterpiece The Potato Eaters of 1885 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). Her facial features, white cap and simple work clothes are sketched in oil, using broad brushstrokes and earthy colours typical of French realist artists such as Jean-François Millet, whom Van Gogh greatly admired.
In 1886 the artist moved to Paris to be closer to his brother Theo, who was an early supporter of the Impressionists. Exposed to the work of this revolutionary group of artists, Van Gogh lightened his palette and experimented with broken brushwork.
At the studio of Fernand Cormon, where he took classes in painting, he met avant-garde artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Emile Bernard. He also encountered the work of Georges Seurat and Paul Gauguin, under whose influence he began to paint more expressively, using brighter colours.
In the summer of 1887 Van Gogh was experimenting with painting portraits, using friends and also himself as a model. Theo was out of town and unable to assist financially, so Van Gogh re-used canvases to save money. Van Gogh died in 1890 and his brother followed six months later, at which point the artist’s entire oeuvre was left to Theo’s widow, Jo Van Gogh-Bonger.
Probably around 1905, when the Peasant Woman was lent to an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the decision was made to stick the canvas down on cardboard prior to framing. At this date the Peasant Woman was evidently considered more ‘finished’ than the Van Gogh self-portrait.
The painting changed hands several times and in 1923 was acquired by Evelyn St. Croix Fleming, whose son, Ian, became the creator of James Bond. It was not until 1951 that it came to Scotland, having entered the collection of Alexander and Rosalind Maitland.
Neil Hanna Photography
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Once revealed, the hidden self-portrait will be part of a group of several such self-portraits and other works painted on the back of earlier canvases from the Nuenen period.
Five examples are in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Others in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut; and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.
Records in the Van Gogh Museum confirm that in 1929 the cardboard was removed from three of their Nuenen pictures by the Dutch restorer Jan Cornelis Traas, revealing the portraits on the verso.
The remarkable story of how Scotland became home to one of the world’s greatest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art will be celebrated in a major National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) exhibition this summer.
A Taste for Impressionism: Modern French art from Millet to Matisse (30 July – 13 November 2022) will explore how visionary Scottish collectors in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries invested in what were then innovative and radical artworks.
World famous paintings by a stellar cast including Van Gogh, Degas and Gauguin will feature throughout, offering visitors a rare chance to delve into a fascinating yet little-known aspect of Scotland’s cultural history. Other highlights will include seven works by Claude Monet from across his career and, for the first time, the full set of Matisse’s vibrant Jazz prints.
While today a painting by the great Impressionists and Post-Impressionists will fetch millions at auction, artists associated with the movements were at first mocked in the press, and the prices paid for their works were surprisingly low.
Among the few collectors who had the foresight to buy what were then edgy works of art were a handful of Scottish tastemakers who snapped up pieces by the likes of Degas, Monet, Pissarro and Cézanne, often well before their English counterparts. Several of these individuals were ‘new money’ having become rich through shipbuilding and textiles.
As the market for Impressionism began to thrive, a sinister side industry in ‘fakes’ took hold, culminating in two major scandals in the early 1930s around the forging of works by Millet and Van Gogh. In keeping with the true spirit of the age, A Taste for Impressionism will include some counterfeit works which will remain unidentified to test visitors’ powers of discernment.
Among the exhibition highlights will be several of NGS’s world-class holdings, such as Gauguin’s Vision of the Sermon and Degas’s Portrait of Diego Martelli, as well as pre-Impressionist masterpieces such as Pissarro’s The Marne at Chennevières.
The fact that works of such renown and quality are held in Scotland is down to two chance factors—a series of innovative purchases by previous NGS directors in the first half of the twentieth century, and the generosity of benefactors such as Sir Alexander and Rosalind Maitland—both reflecting the enlightened state of Scottish taste in the inter-war period and beyond.
A large number of early collectors of Impressionism were women, including the champion yachtswoman Elizabeth Workman, who was brought up in Helensburgh. Described by the artist Percy Wyndham Lewis as ‘one of the only people in England to understand French art’ her reputation as a collector has been overshadowed by men such as Samuel Courtauld, who created a dedicated museum in his own name.
A Taste for Impressionism will reaffirm the role of Workman and other women who have to date been overlooked in this context. In doing so, visitors will be able to glimpse the affluent and cultured lifestyles of individuals such as Indian-born newspaper editor Rachel Beer, known as ‘the first Lady of Fleet Street’ and the flamboyant socialite Eve Fleming, whose son was the creator of James Bond.
Professor Frances Fowle, Senior Curator of French Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “The Impressionist era is one of the most compelling periods in art history. It gave rise to a host of artists who are now considered among the very best, despite being largely dismissed by the establishment of their time.
Several Scottish art collectors were well ahead of their time in acquiring modern French works. We are thrilled to be telling their story for the first time through A Taste for Impressionism, an exhibition which we hope willdelight and inspire our visitors.”
A Taste for Impressionism will span the entire exhibition space of the Royal Scottish Academy building, charting how Impressionism emerged from the indulgence of the Romantic period to become a bona fide radical movement, through to the price-shattering auction phenomenon it is today.
In total there will be around 120 paintings, sculptures and works on paper taken from the NGS collection, as well as loans from Glasgow Museums, Tate, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Berwick Museum and private collections.
Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “We are thrilled that players of People’s Postcode Lottery are supporting National Galleries of Scotland to tell the fascinating story of how a group of radical art lovers made Scotland home to one of the world’s most impressive collections of Impressionist art.
“We are sure that this exciting exhibition, featuring works by many of the world’s most beloved artists, will appeal to a broad audience and we hope as many visitors as possible make it along.”
Vincent van Gogh
A stunning book The Impressionist Era accompanies the exhibition, offering readers and visitors an introduction to the art of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.
Written by Professor Fowle, one of the foremost experts in the field, it explores these artistic movements in the context of the history of collecting.
Colourful and vibrant illustrations help tell the fascinating stories of how key paintings and drawings found their way into Scotland’s national collection.
Artists covered include Monet, Millet, Gauguin, Bastien-Lepage, Charles Jacque, Troyon, Corot, Degas, Seurat, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Vuillard, Bonnard, Derain, Matisse, Legros and Rodin.
Opening this weekend, a major new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland will look at the history of anatomical study, from artistic explorations by Leonardo da Vinci to the Burke and Hare murders.
Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life (2 July to 30 October 2022) will examine the social and medical history surrounding the practice of dissection of human bodies. It looks at Edinburgh’s role as an international centre for medical study and offers insight into the links between science and crime in the early 19th century.
In 1828, William Burke and William and Margaret Hare killed 16 people in the impoverished Edinburgh district of West Port and sold the bodies to an anatomist for dissection.
The exhibition examines the circumstances that gave rise to the murders and asks why they took place in Edinburgh. It unpicks the relationship between science and deprivation and looks at the public reaction to the crimes and the anatomical practices responsible for them.
Covering 500 years of medical exploration, Anatomy opens with early examples of anatomical art, including sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, lent by Her Majesty The Queen from the Royal Collection.
These introduce the search for understanding about the human body and anatomy’s place in the development of medical knowledge across Europe.
Visitors to the exhibition, which is sponsored by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers, will find out more about the role anatomy played in the Enlightenment.
In the 18th century, Edinburgh developed into the leading centre for medical teaching in the UK, and the demand for bodies to dissect and study vastly outstripped legitimate supply. The acquisition of bodies was intertwined with poverty and crime, with grave-robbing – stealing unprotected bodies for dissection – becoming a common practice.
On display will be a ‘mort safe’; a heavy iron box placed over a coffin to deter would-be body snatchers. Other notable objects in the exhibition include a full-body anatomical model by pioneering model maker Louis Auzoux, ground-breaking casts of body parts and William Burke’s skeleton and written confession.
The exhibition closes by highlighting the changing practices and attitudes around body provision in the century and a half since the Burke and Hare murders, bringing the story right up to date. It looks at the modern approach to body donation at universities in Scotland and contrasts the ethics, practices and beliefs today with those of two centuries ago.
Dr Tacye Phillipson, Senior Curator of Modern Science at National Museums Scotland said: “Anatomical knowledge is crucial to medicine, and Edinburgh was a key centre for medical teaching and the development of modern medicine. However, this work relied on the dissection of bodies, the sourcing of which was often controversial and distressing.
“Anatomists could only get the quantity of bodies they wanted through dehumanising the dead and financing a murky industry. Murder was a particularly shocking consequence of this, with people killed for the sale price of their bodies. This fascinating exhibition explores the relationship between society, poverty, ethics and science at that time, and exposes the human cost of early medical advancement.”
Admission: Adults: £10, over-60s £8.50, concessions £7.50. Free entry for National Museums Scotland members and under 16s.
Join us on Friday 17 June from 6—8pm to celebrate the opening of backwash, an exhibition of new work by Glasgow-based artist Camara Taylor.
backwash can refer to the cleaning of filters, the receding of waves, backward currents or the reverberations of an event. It is also a name for the saliva-infused liquid at the bottom of drinking vessels.
In this exhibition of new video and mixed-media works by Camara Taylor, forming part of Collective’s Satellites Programme, these fluid actions are mixed with ongoing explorations of silt, slop and snaps.
This is a free event and all are welcome. Much of the event will take place outdoors in our ‘Play Shelter’ so please dress for the weather! Numbers inside the exhibition will be monitored so a short wait may be required.
Collective’s Satellites Programme is supported by Baillie Gifford. backwash is supported by The Elephant Trust.
This June, East Lothian based artist, Andrew Brooks will be exhibiting art focussing on telling the stories of those diagnosed with neurological condition Functional Neurological Disorder, FND, often referred to as the most common condition you’ve never heard of.
Brooks makes art that concentrates on small details of information to tell stories, using the particular to find the universal.
The multidisciplinary exhibition, FND Stories, is based on in-person interviews with six people from around the UK who live with FND along with contributions from over 90 of those diagnosed from around the world.
The interviews gave first-hand accounts of living with FND and include a beauty queen finalist from Croydon who only began competing since her diagnosis in July 2020. The artwork was created using techniques of data analysis from the interviews and contributions in a range of media including silent video, text-based art, and large-scale ink and gold leaf pieces.
The exhibition seeks to raise awareness of the condition and highlights the lived experiences of those diagnosed. It will be on show through the 20m long windows of InSpace Gallery for the full period to engage as many people as possible, as well as a shorter internal show with an opening event.
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is a common and disabling cause of neurological symptoms. The symptoms are not caused by a structural disease of the nervous system but it is a problem with the “functioning” of the nervous system.
It is a problem with how the brain and body send and receive signals. The symptoms can cause impairment in quality of life that is similar to and in some aspects worse than other neurological conditions.
Symptoms are highly varied and can include weakness and abnormal patterns of movement, attacks of abnormal movement / change in awareness that resemble epileptic seizures, sensory problems, cognitive problems, and visual and speech problems.
Andrew Brooks began making work involving the condition while studying a Fine Art MA in Bristol: “FND is a constant part of my life as my wife was diagnosed with it in 2015 following a bicycle crash involving a car.
“I began to make and exhibit work about our experiences living with FND reflecting on our married life, subsequently broadening the project making further work with members of Southwest England based charity ‘FND Friends’. Having moved to Scotland I secured funding from Creative Informatics.
“The ‘Connected Innovators’ funding stream has given me the time and resources to continue making work with those diagnosed with FND developing new skills to represent people’s stories and raise awareness about the condition”.
With support from FND Hope UK (whom he is independent from) Brooks has been able to broaden the project and had responses from around the globe, including America, Canada and Gibraltar, with over 90 participants answering the question what three words would you use to describe your FND – the top three responses being frustrating, debilitating and misunderstood. Six in-person interviews with participants from around the UK were filmed and transcribed, these stories are the basis for much of the artwork.
Those interviewed are from a range of ages, backgrounds, types and severity of condition and were asked the same set of questions about life with FND. In response to “what is a good day with FND?” one interviewee answered, “a good day is having a shower and not having to sleep after it (laughing)…good days are when I can do the things I used to take for granted”.
Coverage Briefing
The artwork is multidisciplinary and varied including video, sound, word and physical paper-based art, to tell different facets of stories, often focussing on specific details. Large paper-based pieces, some of which are over 2m long, use ink, water, gold leaf, graphite dust and latex, encoding words, meanings and information.
As Brooks explains “the encoded presentation is to create a slower understanding of what is being discussed or described be it data or words, hopefully enabling a more nuanced interaction with the subject matter.
“The interview films are shown as a pair without sound, one film showing the subject’s reaction while listening to their favourite childhood story and the other show’s them explaining about their life with FND.
“Removing the sound avoids the primary forms of storytelling and shifts focus from what is being said to the emotional communication of the person. Relying on body language and the contrast of the two films allows the viewer to emotionally engage with the teller.”
Brooks added: “My aim is to make work that can portray some of the lived experiences and stories of those diagnosed with FND. I don’t want to portray a list of symptoms but reveal different facets of people’s stories.”
FND Stories will be partially on display on Inspace City Screen (Inspace windows facing on to Potterrow), Monday 6th – Sunday 26th June, with full exhibition inside Inspace Thursday 23rd June – Sunday 26th June, 11am – 5pm.
There will be an opening event on Wednesday 22nd June 5-7pm.
Tickets to the opening event can be booked through Eventbrite here:
A prestigious evening Awards Ceremony recognising the best of the independent care home sector will be held tomorrow (Friday 1 April) at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow. The National Care Home Awards 2021 (rescheduled from November 2021) is an important opportunity to highlight the contribution of care homes and their staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.
88% of all care home support in Scotland is delivered by the independent sector, with these services caring for over 33,000 older individuals and employing nearly 46,000 people.
Scottish Care, the representative body for independent social care services across Scotland and organisers of the event, are encouraging those working in the sector and the wider public to join the Awards Ceremony to recognise and celebrate the role of care home workers.
Winners will be announced by the Awards Host – Pop Idol winner, Michelle McManus.
Awards will be presented over fourteen categories:
Ancillary & Support Staff Award
Meaningful Activity Award
Nutrition & Eating Well Award
Training, Learning & Staff Development Award
Emerging Talent Award
Outstanding Achievement Award
Management & Leadership Award
Palliative & End of Life Care Practise Award
Nurse of the Year Award
Carer of the Year Award
Specialist Service/Unit of the Year Award
Care Home Service of the Year Award
Positive Impact Award
Strategic Contribution Award
Dr Donald Macaskill, CEO of Scottish Care and the co-host of the Awards Ceremony said:“Over the past two years, care home staff have demonstrated resilience whilst adapting to the challenges of Covid-19. The dedication and professionalism of care home staff in supporting residents, families and each other has been exceptional.
“We have witnessed new innovative activity and unprecedented collaboration in care homes, with staff often going above and beyond the call of duty.
“The care home workforce has behaved with such dignity, compassion, professionalism and skill over the last few years, as they always do. The awards ceremony is a chance to say thank you and to recognise the particular skills of a few.
“But it is also a night to acknowledge all the individuals, teams and companies delivering care at an incredibly high standard in a challenging period and within an increasingly demanding work environment. We owe them a debt of gratitude.”
The awards have been hailed a huge success in recognising individuals, teams and companies, with more entries than ever flooding in each year from employers, care home staff, residents and relatives nominating their peers, colleagues and local services.
The Care Home Awards follows a full-day conference for the care home sector with speakers including the National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch and the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, Kevin Stewart MSP.
The Scottish Care National Care Home Conference & Exhibition, which is now in its 22nd year has incorporated an awards ceremony for the last 17 years.
The conference will be the first in-person event hosted by Scottish Care since the start of the pandemic.
The title of the conference is ‘Care Chrysalis: An emerging future’, bringing people together from across the sector to share their experiences from the Covid-19 pandemic and plan for the future of care homes in Scotland.
The conference will explore topics as diverse as the role of technology, care home nursing, business and finance, restoring relationships, the importance of family, the role of creative arts in wellbeing and recovery, and workforce.
The conference, exhibition and care awards are the largest of their kind for the care home sector in Scotland.
· More Than a Muse launches on Tue 8 March (International Women’s Day) at The Scottish Storytelling Centre’s Exhibition Space in Edinburgh. Launch is free but ticketed.
· Eight contemporary artists will showcase new work that highlights women from art history who have been eclipsed by the title of ‘The Muse’
· The exhibition will run from Tue 8 March – Sun 10 April and is free entry.
More than a Muse, a new exhibition launching tomorrow, Tue 8 March (International Women’s Day) at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh will celebrate the lesser-known narratives of women from art history whilst simultaneously showcasing new work from current women artists.
Eight contemporary artists will showcase new work in celebration of women from art history who have been eclipsed by their title of ‘The Muse’. Artists whose stories deserve to be told and who deserve to have their work celebrated. Who didn’t just inspire great art, but also created it, yet are rarely seen as a creative force in their own right. Not just a face on another artist’s canvas, they are more than that, more than a muse.
This exhibition is an opportunity to tell and reclaim these lesser-known narratives and will spotlight the lives of women such as Stella Cartwright known as ‘The Muse of Rose Street’. Stella was the lover and muse of many Scottish poets including George Mackay Brown. Although her poetry was unpublished, she was an artist and poet in her own right. Stella’s life will be reimagined in a monologue by playwright and performer, Jo Clifford.
Dora Maar was a French photographer, painter, and poet. She is often referred to as lover and muse of Pablo Picasso and is depicted in several of Picasso’s paintings. She was a rising star in the surrealist circle of the 1930s and a great commercial and fashion photographer, but under Picasso’s influence she gave up photography and withdrew from the art scene altogether.
By some accounts, the beginning of Dora Maar’s relationship with Pablo Picasso marked the end of her own artistic career. It wasn’t until her death in 1997 that art historians were finally able to examine Maar’s masterful body of work in full. Maar’s work will be creatively interpreted by photographer, Monchromemaud.
Kitty Garman was muse to Lucian Freud but was an artist in her own right. Their five-year relationship was turbulent and became increasingly unstable due to Freud’s alleged infidelities and womanising, which took their toll on Garman’s health. Her life will be celebrated in a new series of acrylics by artist Harry Mould.
Others in the series are as follows:
The Muse
Backstory
Contemporary Artist and art form
Stella (‘Muse of Rose Street’) Cartwright
Cartwright was a Scottish muse and lover to a number of Scottish poets including George Mackay Brown. She was a poet and painter in her own right.
Jo Clifford, poetry
Dora Maar
Maar was muse to Picasso but was a photographer and painter in her own right.
Monochromemaud, Photography
Kitty Garman
Garman was muse to Lucian Freud but was an artist in her own right.
Harry Mould, acrylic and oil
Julia Warhola
Muse and mother of Andy Warhol but was an artist in her own right
Emma Macleod, sculpture
Lee Miller
Muse to Man Ray but was a photographer in her own right
Maria Poyato, sculpture
Elizabeth Siddal
Pre-Raphaelite muse but poet and artist in her own right.
Geraldine Brennan, illustration
Hannah Höch
Muse to Raul Haussman but artist and photomontagist in her own right.
Lada Wilson,Photomontage
Georgia O’Keeffe
Muse to Alfred Stieglitz, celebrated artist in her own right
Misia-O, photography
The launch is supported by a performance organised by the Scottish Storytelling Forum. Performance poet Imogen Stirling will share spoken word poetry whilst storyteller, Ailsa Dixon will tell inspirational tales of women from folklore to celebrate International Women’s Day and to mark the exhibition launch.
More Than A Muse will be displayed at the Scottish Storytelling Centre from Tue 8 Mar – Sun 10 April. No tickets required. (Please note in March 2022 the Centre is closed on Wednesdays).
Tickets for the launch on Tue 8 March are free or by donation and can be found on the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s website. https://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.com/ 0131 556 9579
COLLECTIVE are delighted to launch our 2022 programme with a presentation of Cauleen Smith’s film H-E-L-L-O, which brings together themes of historic erasure, presence and loss.
H-E-L-L-O takes John Williams’ famous five-note musical motif from Stephen Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, translating it into a greeting for sites across post-hurricane Katrina New Orleans.
The various interpretations of the sequence speak to the enduring spirit of the city. Although situated in the geography of New Orleans, Smith’s film allows us to contemplate Edinburgh’s relationship to its own landscape, inhabitants and history in a time of turbulence and change.
Cauleen Smith is an American born filmmaker and multimedia artist, best known for experimental works that address African-American identities. Smith currently teaches at the California Institute of the Arts.
H-E-L-L-Owill be screened on loop in the City Dome from 22 January – 1 May. Entry is free and there is no need to pre-book, but some social distancing measures will be in place.
Collective is currently open Thu-Sun, 10am-4pm (Tue-Sun, 10am-5pm from April 2022).
