The Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2JL
Ayo Adedeji was born In Lagos, Nigeria and moved to the UK at one year old. A self-taught artist, based in Edinburgh. Ayo creates his images using traditional graphite pencils, charcoal and transfers these images onto various digital platforms.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://www.instagram.com/buludej/
The Writers’ Museum, Lawnmarket, Lady Stair’s Cl, Edinburgh EH1 2PA
Kokumo was raised in Cowdenbeath. She describes herself as an African/Asian /Scottish writer and performance poet and has performed in the UK, USA, India and Africa. Her collections Bad Ass Raindrop (2002), Stolen From Africa (2007), and Happily Drowning (2019) were published by Luath Press.
This exhibit showcases two poems written by Kokomo Fadeke Rocks titled ‘Stolen From Africa’ and ‘See You, See Me’.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://www.luath.co.uk/kokumo-rocks
Museum of Edinburgh, 142-146 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8DD
A newly commissioned poem written by Edinburgh based poet Jeda Pearl Lewis, titled ‘Beloved Black’ the text begins
Black is the absorption of all visible light
You are life
You are the scattered dust of stars, full-spectrum,
generating the cosmos throughout spacetime
You are a gift
Jeda Pearl is a Scottish-Jamaican writer & poet and a Programme Manager for the Scottish BAME Writers Network. In 2019, she was awarded Cove Park’s Emerging Writer Residency and shortlisted for the Bridge Awards. Her writing is published by TSS Publishing, Momaya Press, Tapsalteerie
and Shoreline of Infinity.
Find out more
Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High St, Edinburgh EH1 1SR
Tayo Adekunle is a British Nigerian photographer based in Edinburgh. Working a lot with selfportraiture, she uses her work to explore issues surrounding race, gender and sexuality as well as racial and colonial history.
Her work is centred around reworkings of historical tropes relating to the black female body, taking from contexts that include art historical paintings and sculptures as well as 19th-century colonial photography. By placing historical imagery in a contemporary context, the relationship between the treatment of the black female body in the past and its treatment in the present day is explored.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
https://tayo-adekunle.format.com/collages
Museum of Childhood, 42 High St, Edinburgh EH1 1TG
With a West African heritage, fine artist and illustrator Beatrice Ajayi was born in Scotland. Having both cultures laced through her upbringing gave her a perspective that is creative, refreshing and unique. There is a freedom of expression that entwines an endless supply of narrative. As a child, she spent most of her time drawing writing stories, dancing and singing her own songs. After completing an Art Foundation course at Croydon College in Surrey, she went on to do a BA (Hons) Degree at Nottingham Trent University.
Beatrice’s work has been described as both “engaging and daring”, and been exhibited in galleries across the UK. Since her early teens, she has continued to develop her unique style as a fine artist and illustrator.
This new piece, in a style she describes as African Anime, was specially designed for the Mural Trail and is inspired by her experience of growing up as a Black Scottish child.
https://www.wezi.uk/mural-trail-locations/
https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
http://www.beatriceajayi.com/
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/
Dance Base, 14-16 Grassmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2JU
Inspired by the powerful quote from musician and activist Amanda Seales. This artwork proclaims:
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https://www.instagram.com/blmmuraltrail/
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/
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/
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/
