14.12.22

Edinburgh’s City Art Centre brings together three immersive photographic exhibitions that explore Scottish life from different perspectives.

Drawing on themes that span rural life, feminism, social injustice and forgotten Edinburgh life, the exhibitions form the first major photographic season at Scotland’s premier home for Scottish art.

GLEAN: EARLY 20TH CENTURY WOMEN FILMMAKERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS IN SCOTLAND 

The first-floor gallery exhibits the ground-breaking work of 14 pioneering women filmmakers and photographers in Scotland during the 20th Century. The work is drawn from 17 archives, predominantly from Scotland, ranging from Galloway to Shetland and features 125 photographs, eight films and 35 related artefacts, and is the first time their work has been seen together. Uncovering a previously untold story within the history of Scottish photography and filmmaking from this period, these women present different accounts of Scotland, covering both rural and city communities.

The exhibition alludes to the different contexts the women were working in, from those who were independent to those working in or with industry. This was during a period when only some women over 30 had the vote in 1918, with all women over 21 being granted the vote in 1928, the early women photographers and filmmakers were forging a different path to that expected of their gender.

The exhibition curated by Jenny Brownrigg, Exhibitions Director at The Glasgow School of Art, is a partnership project with City Art Centre. There is a programme of events accompanying the exhibition which brings together other researchers, gallerists and archivists who have championed the work of these women.

Glean: Early 20th Century women filmmakers and photographers in Scotland until 12 March 2023

Free Admission

More information here.

RON O’DONNELL | EDINBURGH: A LOST WORLD

The second-floor gallery exhibits Edinburgh-based photographer Ron O’Donnell’s images together for the first time. On display are previously unseen and forgotten interiors including prison cells, public toilets, laundrettes, greengrocers and fishmongers spanning the 1970s and 80s, plus more taken in the early 21st Century. Some of the early work dates from O’Donnell’s time as a student at Napier Polytechnic with many places no longer in existence. He commented: “I started taking some of these photographs of interiors as a student. Shooting them became a compulsion, a desire to record on film a vanishing city. In retrospect, I was privileged to have been allowed to document these places, given access to behind-the-scenes areas, through the generosity of the various owners. I hope that the images I have captured will become a fascinating document of this great city.”

About Ron O’Donnell

Known today for working in the medium of constructed photography and large-scale installations, O’Donnell began his artistic career as a photographer. He was born in Stirling in 1952 and studied photography at Napier Polytechnic in Edinburgh. He later went on to work as a trainee photographer at Stirling University and eventually returned to Edinburgh Napier University as a lecturer in photography.

O’Donnell has always had a curious and insatiable desire to document the city. Looking for unusual interiors, he would cycle around with his camera – a tool he used to access hidden spots that many people never saw. He was drawn to old fashioned, cluttered, and run-down interiors. On display for the first time are around 40 photographs from O’Donnell’s impressive archive of these little-known and lost places in Edinburgh.

Ron O’Donnell | Edinburgh: A Lost World until 5 March 2023

Free Admission

More information here.

PAUL DUKE: NO RUINED STONE

The third-floor gallery houses an exhibition of street photography recording contemporary life in the Muirhouse area of Edinburgh. Featuring 38 large-scale black and white photographs, this is the first time No Ruined Stone has been displayed as a full-scale exhibition, bringing the photographs back to the artist’s home city. Featuring homes and architectural structures surrounded by elements of the natural world as well as portraits of residents, Paul’s images offer up a sense of the community’s identity at a time of significant urban regeneration and social flux. While raising issues around social inequality and poverty, the exhibition is underpinned by a message of human resilience, strength of character, and ultimately, hope.

About Paul Duke

Paul Duke grew up in Muirhouse, in the north of Edinburgh, between the mid-1960s and early 1980s. He attended the local Craigroyston High School, where his teachers inspired him to consider art as a possible future career. Drawn to photography, he enrolled at Napier College (now Edinburgh Napier University), before gaining a place to study at the Royal College of Art in London. From here, he established himself as a lens-based artist.

In 2015 Duke returned to Muirhouse to develop No Ruined Stone. This series was conceived as the second part of a photographic trilogy by Duke which examines the social climate in modern-day Scotland. It takes its name from the poetry of the Scots writer Hugh MacDiarmid. For No Ruined Stone, the artist spent time meeting local people and talking with them; reconnecting with his roots and exploring how the Muirhouse community had changed since his own upbringing there.

Paul Duke: No Ruined Stone until 19 February 2023

Free Admission

More information here.

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CITY ART CENTRE

The City Art Centre is one of Edinburgh’s main public art galleries, with a vibrant programme of exhibitions. It is also home to the City’s collection of historic and contemporary Scottish art, one of the best in the country, showcased in a series of changing displays.

Located in the heart of Edinburgh close to Waverley train station, the City Art Centre’s aim is to champion historic and contemporary Scottish visual and applied arts. Artworks from their nationally-recognised collection of Scottish art are displayed on a rotating basis. Visitors can also enjoy a richly diverse programme of changing exhibitions, which include historic and modern Scottish painting and photography, as well as contemporary art and craft. 

An escalator and lift provide easy access to six floors, and the Centre also houses a shop on the ground floor. Admission is normally free, although charges apply for some temporary exhibitions. Mimi's Bakehouse is situated on the ground floor, open daily 9am-5pm (last sit ins at 4:30pm) offering coffee, cake and an all-day brunch menu.

More information here.