otro mundo es posible

... to open Lilith's jar. A bit of a messy process it was. I unwrapped 6 'babies', rinsed them and hung them out to dry in the solstice sunshine. Some of the marks are quite interesting close up. I am planning to make a cloth book with these pieces. I kept 5 wrapped for later. I rinsed them and left them to dry.  They changed quite dramatically after 24 hours I quite like them as objects, but would also like to unwrap them to see what marks they have produced!

So Lilith's babies have turned jet black inside their 'incubation cell.' Not surprising given Lilith's long association the darker side of life. The birthing process is planned for the Summer Solstice.

More than slightly subdued by the dreadful news of the fire at Glasgow School of Art, we nevertheless had a successful launch to our degree show with the Business View on Thursday, followed by the Family and Friends View on Friday.  I was honoured to have my second cousin Elspeth and her daughter  Susan Moir Mackay  attend, along with my mother and sister, Kathryn. Elspeth's mother, Dorothy Moir, attended ECA, graduating in around 1925, we think, and we had a great discussion conjecturing about her experiences as a female art school student in those early days of ECA. Susan also graduated from ECA in 1992 with a BA (Hons) in Art and Design, and I am proud to be the third ECA graduate in our family in 2014. Do come and visit us on the first floor in Studio E4 and see if you can work out what is in the jar! We are open 11 - 5 until 1st June, with 2 late nights on 28th and 29th May until 8pm

Excitement mounts this week as we prepare our studio space for the degree show. Having to pare down the vast mound of work accumulated over my final year to select a few pieces that best represent me in the small patch of space allocated has been an illuminating exercise. Displacement The theme of Displacement is represented in my work of the same name. My interest lies in new theories of the movement of civilisation from West to East in ancient times, traced through evidence in weaving patterns and cloth samples among other things. I was fascinated by similarities I noticed in ancient Japanese stitched symbols such as 'Hirayamamichi', a protective pattern sewn on the edges of a garment to ward off evil spirits, to Guanche cave markings and ritualistic stone carvings. The idea that traces of different cultures may be picked up along the way when people are displaced led me to make a composite piece where these could be brought together. Displacement in current times, such as...

Click to view my n ew photobook It's a mixture of shots from Lanzarote that have informed my work over the past few years, along with some more recent images from Berlin and Crete. Best to view the slide show in full screen mode and please ignore the sales pitch incorporated by Photobox

Some photos from our amazing trip to Berlin where the art spills out onto the streets from the galleries in the form of intense graffiti. The sense of release is palpable. The iconic Berlin Wall meanders all over the city, a constant reminder of the significance of the land being traversed. One of my Lebanese friends notes the similarities Berlin has with Beirut and her hope for how Beirut could be in 20 years time. Authorities in Beirut seem to have other plans however, judging by recent reports by NOW LEBANON reporter, Alex Rowell of the acclaimed graffiti artist, Yazan Halwani being detained by gunmen. I have reposted the article here so you can read it in full.

thedisgraceofgod: Yazan Halwani, Beirut graffiti virtuoso, detained ... : [Originally posted at NOW ] It hasn’t been an easy few weeks for Yazan Halwani, the artist who has, at the astonishing age of just 20, dist...