AfroScots: An Ongoing Research Project

In 2015, Mother Tongue were awarded a research support grant from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art to undertake archival and collection research, in Scotland and beyond, towards a future 'AfroScots' exhibition project. In essence, this project seeks to bring together into a single narrative for the first time the work of Black artists in Scotland, historically and in the present. With a chronology beginning in the 1860s, we will soon begin to use this page to share information compiled through this research, including artist biographies an exhibition histories.

Particular focus points of this research have begun to take various public forms, including essays, presentations and screening programmes. Further details on these can be found at separate links on our homepage.

One particular focus within the archival research undertaken in 2016 was the activity of Afro-Caribbean artists in Scotland through the 1950s, 60s and 70s. This resulted in the essay, 'Caribbean Connections in Scotland,' published with MAP magazine in 2017 and available here.

Tiffany presented on this aspect of the AfroScots research on the 'Curating the Archive' panel at Tilting Axis 3: Curating the Caribbean, held at the National Gallery of the Cayman Island, 18-20th May, 2017. A video of this presentation can be found below, and documentation of the entire conference at the YouTube channel of the NGCI: NatGalCayman. More Information on Tilting Axis 3 can be found here.