Dance Base, 14-16 Grassmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2JU
Inspired by the powerful quote from musician and activist Amanda Seales. This artwork proclaims:
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
Oct 212020
Oct 212020
The Royal Lyceum Theatre, 30b Grindlay St, Edinburgh EH3 9AX
These three complementary pieces are portraits of the artist’s grandmother and great aunts. All of which taught him the value of hard work and perseverance by achieving great success in various professional fields. They are some of the most successful people in the family and they are black women – one of, if not the single most overlooked and underrated demographic in modern society.
A midwife, a school teacher and a nurse. They nurtured, taught and healed others even when the world didn’t do the same for them. Never losing their pride, their poise or their power. Their lives don’t just matter. They’re essential. Here, they are celebrated. The pieces have been purposely made to look like distressed pop-art. Idols in makeshift, political iconology. An acknowledgement of the past as we look toward the future. Red for the sacrifices of our ancestors. Yellow for the wealth of knowledge and empowerment passed down to us. Green for the motherland and our hopes for it and our people’s future.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://www.instagram.com/theneonrequiem/
Oct 212020
Usher Hall, Lothian Rd, Edinburgh EH1 2EA
Abigail Mills aka Abz, is a queer Scottish-Jamaican tattoo and graffiti artist from Kirkcaldy. Abz has been an artist since childhood, always able to visualise and create ideas… Having been tattooing for over 9 years, Abz works in Glasgow, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy in a bright, colourful and thought-provoking style.
Abz work on the Usher Hall Glass wing calls for justice to Sheku Bayouh and her artwork on Lothian Road sits as a provocation to Scotland as a nation.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://www.instagram.com/abzmillstattoos/
Oct 212020
The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh, EH1 2NE
This series of photographs was taken by photographer Jamal Yussuff-Adelakun, a British born Nigerian now based in Edinburgh. His daughter Lola was the model and he says:
I always promised myself that when I had children, I would speak to them about their culture and heritage (including other cultures) and the reality of life, from birth; the things I know they won’t be taught in school. The day the news about George Floyd broke, I spoke to my daughter briefly about it. She understood the importance of what I just told her and we felt compelled to create our own response.
The results are what you see, and much of the concept came from her, focusing on the poignancy of “I can’t breathe”.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://www.facebook.com/papajgunphotography/
Oct 212020
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge St, Edinburgh EH1 2ED
Annie is an Edinburgh-based writer, theatremaker and occasional filmmaker, who was born in Kerala India, and has worked in Scottish theatre since 1991. She was awarded the Ignite Fellowship 2019 (Scottish Book Trust) and the 2016 Inspiring Scotland Bursary.
Recent productions include ‘Twa’, a collaboration with visual artist Flore Gardner, and the solo shows ‘Home is Not the Place’ and ‘The Bridge’. She has worked with numerous artists and organisations including Magnetic North, Mara Menzies and Stellar Quines, and was Actor/Producer in the late ‘90s, with Fringe-First winning CAT. A. Theatre Company
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https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://anniegeorge.net
Oct 212020
Lower Gilmore Place, Edinburgh
This mural at Lower Gilmore Place, exhibits a powerful portrait of Frederick Douglass, the former enslaved man who became one of the most prestigious antislavery agents of his time. The building is the location in which Fredrick Douglass resident while in Edinburgh in 1846, eight years after escaping the brutal regime of his enslaver on a plantation in Maryland.
Following his escape, Douglass became a leading light in the US abolitionist movement and was sent to Great Britain on a speaking tour.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
Oct 212020
Edinburgh Printmakers, Castle Mills, 1 Dundee St, Edinburgh EH3 9FP
Adebusola Ramsay, born in Lagos, Nigeria, lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. She is an abstract artist, whose practice has developed over the last 20 years. Her art takes form in painting and printmaking, working mostly with acrylics and features evocative colour contrast and textural detail. She explores different forms of mark-making to create new perspectives in irregular line and colour patterns.
Obfuscation was painted reflecting on how we are conditioned into certain ways of thinking and how our current oppressive modes of social ordering came to be and are maintained.
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https://adebusolaramsay.com/
Oct 212020
Edinburgh Playhouse, 18-22 Greenside Pl, Edinburgh EH1 3AA
Tony Brown Kalisa is an 18-year-old self-taught graphic artist, born in Uganda he has called Edinburgh his home for 4 years. His style utilities a variety of images and techniques to build a design made up of many layers. Tony’s creative practice is continually inspired by his mother who raised him as a single parent with African values in a western context.
His artwork was inspired by the various protest that happened across the world in response to the killing of George Floyd and in support of Black Lives Matter and the fact that this show of solidarity was lead by young people of all races.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://tayo-adekunle.format.com/collages
Oct 212020
Usher Hall, Lothian Rd, Edinburgh EH1 2EA
The musical lyrics of various Black and Asian Scottish artists speak to their lived experience of living in Scotland, including Eliza Shaddad, Emeli Sande, Helicopter Girl, Soom T and Young Fathers.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
Oct 212020
Jupiter Artland, Bonnington House The Steadings, Wilkieston, Edinburgh EH27 8BY
Saoirse’s creative process is inspired by her fascination with interconnectedness and movement in both everyday life, and her cultural heritage. She considers the potential that lies in caring for ourselves and others and the extent to which this nurturing can benefit us both personally and politically.
“We Can Still Dance references the negative impact of Hollywood’s Magical Negro trope on myself and many others. This trope enforces the stereotype that Black people merely exist to nurture and support our white counterparts. I want to flip this stereotype to reinforce Audre Lorde’s idea that caring for ourselves as Black womxn is an act of political warfare and allows us to define our own destiny. We may project our light onto the world, but first, we must shine for ourselves.
Personally, I feel this self-nourishment while dancing. If ever I am confronted by fear, I try to remember that Audre told me “I can still dance”, and the fear turns itself into fire.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://www.saoirse-anis.com/
