Self -reliance (1841)

Bellas Artes

Edinburgh, GB

FUNDED

"Self-Reliance (1841)" is an exhibition, featuring the work of three up-and-coming Edinburgh based artists/photographers: Alicia Bruce, Malcy Duff and Johnny Gailey, which will transform the Out of the Blue arts space in Leith, Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival in August 2012.

The inspiration

The exhibition responds to the essay, Self-Reliance' written by American author Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1841. The text admonishes the reader to " Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events …Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."

The work

The three photographers/artists are each exhibiting a body of work in progress, in which various aspects of self-reliance come into play. The exhibition itself will be created from reclaimed wood and funded through crowdfunding – self reliance in action.

Alicia Bruce

... is an award winning Scottish photographer. Her practice is focused on social and political themes and issues within communities. Her collaboration with the residents of Menie, a rural Scottish community standing up against Donald Trump’s threats of CPO has gained international attention giving a fair voice to the residents. Their collaborative portraits gained positive press for the residents in early 2011 who,until then, had been portrayed as ‘peasants’, ‘pigs’, ‘protesters’ & ‘opponents’. Two portraits from this series are now held in The National Galleries of Scotland permanent collection. Alicia will use this exhibition as a test space for showing new work about the landscape of Menie as it’s ‘Trumped ‘, to create what is claimed to be ‘The Greatest Golf Course in the World’ due to open in July this year. The area was previously famed for it’s dynamic dune system was noted to be ‘’Scotland’s equivalent of the Amazon Rain Forrest’ * has now lost it’s accreditation as an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). It has become an area of conflict. Will nature fight back?

Malcy Duff

... is a cartoonist from Edinburgh in Scotland. His work includes 'The Weather and The Weather Forecast,' 'The Blackest Gnome,' 'The Heroic Mosh of Mary's Son, and ' the 'Rrobots' anthology.' He has exhibited all over Britain, and in Ireland, Finland, Israel and Australia. Malcy has drawn and self-published a range of comics through his Missing Twin imprint. He is also a founder member of the band Usurper, and performs solo, with a mixture of readings from his comic books and 'live' comix. Malcy has recently completed a comic book called 'The Cross Stands On One Leg Because It Only Has One Leg.' – a story about a man traveling to a remote Scottish island to fix a delipidated celtic cross. The narrative flits between the subjective and objective, as the man considers his task within the wider context of his life work. For this exhibtion Malcy will create a impossible concrete overhang on which to exhibit the comic.

Johnny Gailey

...is a photographer, artist, educator and organizer. Johnny will show a work in progress, "Monument to the Shipwrecked", a diarama built around a series of medium format images taken on a recent trip to Helsinki. The work responds to a classical scultpture of the same name, and charts a journey around the archipelago to find more natural monuments to those shipwrecked. The work is a personal reflection on those left high and dry, and the search for resolution.

The exhibition theme of self -reliance fits with

the location - Out of the Blue: a social enterprise providing space, support and studios for over 100 artists
the context of Leith: Edinburgh's resilient and gritty port, often left out of the Festival carnival
and the method: the exhibition will be self-built and self-funded.

We hope you will consider sponsoring our project - we need £2000 to create the exhibition and £3200 to pay ourselves for the time producing the work. If you wish to support homegrown, grassroots creative endeavour with a heart, please look at our rewards we can offer in thanks. All support will be credited in our wall text.