Caribbean Connections in Scotland

Grace Aneiza Ali
Aug 26, 2017 · 2 min read

Tiffany Boyle for Mother Tongue, writes on the work of Donald Locke, Aubrey Williams and Frank Bowling

Donald Locke with his first wife Leila, at his graduation from the University of Edinburgh, Bristo Square, 1964

Within this anecdote lies pertinent questions about how to position the wider body of research out of which this piece of writing originates. Over the past year, Mother Tongue has embarked on a future AfroScots curatorial project through archival and collection research, seeking to bring into a single narrative for the first time, the presence, work and exhibition histories of Black artists in Scotland. Focusing here on the late-1950s to the 1970s, and looking specifically at the work of three seminal practitioners with Caribbean roots, it appears that the little physical documentation remaining has often been dispersed beyond Scotland, thus creating the necessity to collect living memories in tandem.

As a preliminary framework, this essay chronologically maps out the work, output and networks in Scotland surrounding Aubrey Williams, Frank Bowling, and — of primary focus here — Donald Locke. At great loss to local art narratives and histories, their time and projects in Scotland appear to have been largely forgotten over the past four decades. Surrounding this activity is a range of personal and professional networks which enabled projects and exchanges to take place, and which lasted beyond time spent physically here.

Read more at Map Magazine.

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Grace Aneiza Ali

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http://graceali.com

Guyana Modern

Contemporary Arts & Culture of Guyana and its Diaspora. Founder & Curator: Grace Aneiza Ali.

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