An Edinburgh exhibition at the City Art Centre that records contemporary life in the Muirhouse area has been praised by Irvine Welsh.
No Ruined Stone, which has two weeks left at the gallery, features 38 large-scale black and white photographs. This is the first time it has been displayed as a full exhibition, bringing the photographs back to the artist’s home city.
Paul Duke, the artist behind the images, aimed to give a voice to residents of North Edinburgh. After viewing No Ruined Stone, Irvine Welsh described it as: “Great pictures, high on humanity and getting past the clichés.”
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Check out some highlights from the exhibition below.
Paul commented: “When I started work on No Ruined Stone in 2015, my greatest wish was to create a narrative that gave voice to the residents of Muirhouse - to challenge misrepresentation by portraying the community and local environment with honesty, fairness and dignity.
“I wanted to offer personal insight and in doing so, address pressing questions around social injustice. With millions of people up and down the land dealing with the cost of living criss, I believe these photographs have taken on new meaning and are now more relevant than ever.”
The 38 images feature homes and architectural structures, surrounded by elements of the natural world as well as portraits of residents. A spokesperson for the City Art Centre said: “Paul’s images offer up a sense of the community’s identity at a time of significant urban regeneration and social flux.
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“While raising issues around social inequality and poverty, the exhibition is underpinned by a message of human resilience, strength of character, and ultimately, hope.”
The artist grew up in Muirhouse between the mid ‘60s and ‘80s. He attended the local Craigroyston High School, where his teachers inspired him to consider art as a possible future career.
He enrolled at Napier College (now Edinburgh Napier University), before gaining a place to study at the Royal College of Art in London. This new series was conceived as the second part of a photographic trilogy by Duke which examines the social climate in modern-day Scotland, and 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.
No Ruined Stone runs until February 19, and you can find out more here.
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