After 2 years of online learning and teaching it was an absolute pleasure and a privilage to return to an in person Graduate Showcase. Despite our live online presentations in 2020 & 2021 being a fantastic exeprience for us and a huge success it was with great relief on the part of myself, Jennie and Colette that this years presentation was at the prestigous Fruitmarket Gallery.

You can see the work presented in the galleries new warehouse space below:

Vera Bartolozzi:

My practice explores archetypes and gender with the use of found objects, sculptures, performance, and installation. After considering the universal symbols of the circle, source of life, and the pilar, activating power, in prehistoric art around the world, and then considering some of the main archetypes of Ancient Greece, I have inverted the features of some goddesses and gods from the Greek pantheon, and created screen-prints of the two renewed archetypes. On the floor, one vulvic and one phallic circle of sculptures offer the stage for an imagined ritual of integration.

Vera has direct entry offers for both Glasgow School of Art (GSA) and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) at Dundee University

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Barbara Di Tucci:

Shifting and floating. Clouds are the greatest protagonists of this arduous world. Teaching us how to endure and persevere, without changing our true nature. I am a huge lover of those ethereal and yet powerful elements. I define myself a “clouds hunter”, often looking for the most captivating moment to capture their immense beauty. Life is already hard as it is, and our constant worrying accentuates and influences defining portions of it. Just like clouds do, our thoughts are constantly flowing, and “following” us throughout our daily existence. A perpetual cycle that powers itself through the ongoing emotions seasoning our life. In often cases, it hides distressful circumstances, which are merely visible when getting closer to knowing others.

Barbara is returning to her home town in Italy after several successful years in Edinburgh.

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Kirsten Grant:

‘Living Quietly’ is a project about the day-to-day life, the mundane tasks that can build up when suffering from mental illness. For the past couple of months I have been documenting my life through a visual diary and how the pandemic has affected me post lockdown. 

Kirsten is returning to their home town of Brighton to develop their art and music practices.

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Rachel Hughes:

This project was based on me discovering myself through my cultural identity. Throughout this project I explored bringing together Scottish and Malaysian culture to create something new that helped represent me. I looked at art techniques, national flowers, fabrics, dances, and music from both countries. The piece I have on display is a multi-purpose piece of fabric, currently being used as a tablecloth but could also be used as a kilt or shawl. Accompanying this is a short photo montage video with music from both countries playing. 

Rachel has direct entry offers for bothe Glasgow School of Art (GSA) and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) at Dundee University

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Tammy McMaster Stewart:

‘I know this place but it doesn’t know me’

Tammy has been offered has direct entry for Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh University, Glasgow School of Art and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at Dundee University

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Sean Obrzud:

The inspiration behind these artworks grew from the idea of creative rekindling. Relearning, trusting, and nurturing creative intuition. Each composition feels like an ode to growth, snapshots into a developing meditative practice of creative self-confidence.

Sean has direct entry offer for the Painting School at Glasgow School of Art. (GSA)

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Caitlin Porteous:

This portrait serves as a reflection of my relationship with femininity and an invitation for the audience to think about what ‘feminine’ means.

The various expectations of women – young, attractive, hairless bodies – and the need to conform to the unachievable is instilled into girls from an early age. I am using this work as a means to reflect on how I view and present myself in everyday life.

Caitlin is currently looking for a studio to develop her painting practice in Edinburgh.

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Finlay Warner:

In this project I wanted to show the loss I felt at the demolition of a city’s historical buildings and to combine that with the inspiration and colour of the architecture of Spain. I achieved the feeling of the loss of structure by creating an abstract piece which has allowed me to represent the feeling and drama in the loss of the historical buildings and cityscape. (This is a work in progress)

Finlay has acheived his dream of gaining entry to Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) at Dundee University.

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Ben Wilson:

My ritualistic gown was inspired by traditional pagan costumes and 70s folk horror films, and the small offerings are based on ancient methods of treating epilepsy or the ‘falling sickness’, for example the Romans used peony roots and hare’s stomachs and continuing on from that I included natural substances that I believe helped like turmeric and ginger. The performative ritual shown in my film would be to ward off unwanted epilepsy spirits or demons.

Ben is our prize winning artist for outstanding studentship over the last 2 years. As a result of his hard work and dedication he has received offers from Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), GSA, DJCAD and Goldsmiths University, London

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Murdo Wilson-Watt:

For this piece of work I wanted to capture the streets of Edinburgh as I have found myself walking them in their almost never ending, winding paths of asphalt and cobbles. With this collage piece I have strayed away from my initial intended idea how ever I feel the collaged work highlights the multi levelled nature of Edinburgh’s layout and housing as a whole.

Murdo is taking a year out to further develop his portfolio.

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“Damn her, the old witch; she has lived too long. Let her burn”                                                                      – Patrick Sellar, Factor of the Earl of Sutherland, 1814.

Coming from a family who have experienced the generational trauma of forced displacement, the personal accounts of the Highland Clearances are painfully relatable. 

In particular, accounts from the burnings of Strathnaver have driven the need to create this series of works.

It is important to me that history be actively remembered and engaged with; and this pattern of displacement is arguably still perpetuated today, with the majority of land in Scotland owned by nationals of other countries, not resident on the land owned.

This is a matter of course not limited to Scotland, as we can see specific groups of people the world over being forced from their ancestral lands again and again.