- Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon David Mundell, joined GSA Director, students and staff for unveiling of 2018 showcase
- Work by over 700 graduating students from Architecture, Design, Fine Art and Innovation Schools on show
- Industry events complement the public showcase
- Summer exhibition of work by Widening Participation and Portfolio Preparation students runs concurrently with Degree Show
- Degree Show will continue with presentations in London
- Degree Show 2018 is sponsored by Tilney; MFA is supported by citizenM
 |
| Communication Design student, Kaitlin Mechan, shows her book telling the moving story of her grandfather Frank O'Hare's WWII experiences to David Mundell MSP and Professor Tom Inns at the opening of Degree Show 2018. |
The Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon David Mundell, joined The Glasgow School of Art Director, Professor Tom Inns, students and staff for the unveiling of 2018 Degree Show today, Friday 1 June 2018. After the Degree Show launch Mr Mundell visited the Mackintosh Building to see how the restoration, which has been supported by £10M from the UK government, is progressing.
Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell said:
“I was pleased to visit The Glasgow School of Art and see the opening of the Degree Show 2018, and meet with the students behind the art to hear about their briefs and how the scenery of Scotland inspired their work.
“I was encouraged by the stage of the restoration works at the Mackintosh Building, which the UK Government supported with £10M in funding. I look forward to seeing it again when fully open.”
The annual showcase of creativity this year features work by over 700 undergraduate and postgraduate students spread over four buildings: Architecture in the Bourdon Building, Design and Innovation in the Reid Building, and undergraduate Fine Art in the Tontine Building. The MFA exhibition is on show in the Glue Factory with selections of video work being shown on every citizenM hotel screen internationally. Degree Show 2018 runs from Saturday 2 June – Friday 8 June and the summer exhibition of work by Widening Participation and Portfolio Preparation students is running concurrently in McLellan Galleries.
Among the many projects on show from the School of Design is St Valéry, a moving illustrated book by Communication Design student, Kaitlin Mechan, telling the story of her grandfather (also a design graduate of the GSA) and his comrades in arms from the 51st Highland Division who were captured by the Germans at St Valéry in 1940 and held as POWs for 5 years. Also in the School of Design the latest cohort of students on the Product Design Engineering programme unveiled innovations ranging from Deuce prosthetic feet - developed in partnership with Paralympic athlete Scott Meenagh - to an incubator adaption system to encourage mother-to-baby connection for critically ill or premature infants, a sensory musical toy to help children on the autistic spectrum, and a sustainable and modular sofa design.
Students from the Innovation School, which this year has its first Degree Show presentation at the GSA, have looked at future challenges and needs of both communities and individuals offering a number of creative, co-designed responses. In Plastic OceansJonas Gentle explores how design could play a role in the co-creation of an alternative future for coastal towns in a possible “post-fish” economy; Gabriele Stonciute explores ways in which to decrease the impact of pollution from the fashion industry by changing attitudes from ones where materials matter little, to ones where materials are cherished. Meanwhile, Daniel McLarenlends a helping hand to those who experience the skin biting condition known as dermatophagia.
Among the 135 artists showcasing work at the Tontine Building is Sculpture and Environmental Art student, Lucy Lamort. Lucy’s work, I’m Not a Bitch I’m Just Not Flirting with You responds to one of the most powerful political movements of recent times - #MeToo – in a hard hitting installation featuring video content drawn from broadcast news, print and social media combined with text-based works. Other artists include The Kirkwood Brothers– a collaborative partnership between Jonathan and Jordan Kirkwood, who work intuitively together speaking about everything from autism, anxiety and depression, but keeping humour at the forefront in the attempt to make the work as accessible as possible to everyone who comes along to see it.
Two graduating Fine Art Photography students Jonas Jessen Hansen and Iman Tajik will also show their Who Is? Project at Degree Show. The work, which tackles issues around immigration, aims to act as a catalyst to discuss division and the growing fear of the stranger that are central to the rising tide of nationalism across the globe.
Students in the Mackintosh School of Architecture are showcasing responses to a range of different briefs. Stage 5 students have undertaken detailed city studies focused on Madrid; Stage 3 students have addressed issues of sustainability specifically related to car use and food production; Stage 2 students have worked with three communities across Scotland – Dumfries, Larnark and Galashiels - to address the gradual decline of small towns.
This year also sees the summer exhibition by of work by Widening Participation and Portfolio Preparation students running concurrently with Degree Show, and for the first time the full portfolios created by the students will be on show as part of the exhibition.
“We are delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon David Mundell, to the opening of Degree Show 2018,” says Professor Tom Inns, Director The Glasgow School of Art. “It is the culmination of up to five years of work by our talented architects, artists and designersand offers the opportunity for the students to showcase their creativity and innovation both to industry and the public.”
“This year we have the first showcase from Innovation School alongside work from the Schools of Design and Fine Art and the Mackintosh School of Architecture. Also, running concurrently with Degree Show is the summer exhibition of original work produced by students on the GSA’s Widening Participation and Portfolio preparation programmes.”
“After graduation many of the students will stay here in Glasgow joining the growing community of GSA alumni who have made the city one of the most vibrant centres of the creative production in the UK. Others will take the skills they have developed here and apply them in diverse roles and situations all demonstrating the importance and value of creative education in the 21st century.”
Following Degree Show the GSA will be represented in a number of graduate shows in London including New Designers (Silversmithing & Jewellery, Textile Design andInteraction Design) and Free Range (Interior Design), and this year for the first time GSA Fashion Design students will take to the catwalk at Graduate Fashion week. Communication Designand Innovation School will present work in independent shows.
Glasgow School of Art Degree Show 2018 is sponsored by Tilney. Paul Frame, Head of Tilney Scotland, said: "I am delighted that Tilney is once again the headline sponsor of The Glasgow School of Art's undergraduate degree show. The School is an internationally acclaimed institution and this is one of the country’s most prominent events in the art’s calendar. Tilney is proud to sponsor such a key part of Glasgow’s framework, highlighting its dedication to the area and city.I would strongly recommend a visit to the show, as only when in the company of the students does their work really come alive.”
MFA Show is currently on at The Glue Factory with a selection of video work by MFA students being shown on every citizenM hotel screen internationally for the first time.
Robin Chadha, Chief Marketing Officer, citizenM Hotels, said "citizenM is delighted to be supporting the MFA Degree Show at The Glasgow School of Art for the sixth year. We have a strong affiliation with contemporary art, with originally and specially commissioned pieces throughout all the hotels," says Robin Chadha, Chief Marketing Officer. "The GSA is recognised worldwide as a leading creative school for the arts, and as firm believers in helping new talent, we are particularly pleased to support the GSA MFA students graduating this year."
Ends
For further information, images and interviews contact:
School of Design
Images: spread from Kaitlin Mechan’s St Valery, image by Yeong Yao Ting
and Lucy Pollok’s Franz Ferdinand
Design student Kaitlin Mechan has paid homage to the sacrifice of 51st Highlanders at St Valéry including her own grandfather, Frank O’Hare, in her Degree Show presentation. 23-year old from Kaitlin from Paisley has produced beautifully illustrated books telling the story of the experience of the soldiers who were captured by the Germans on the beaches of St Valéry, in June 1940. Among those taken captive was her grandfather who had graduated in design from the Glasgow School of Art in 1940.
“My grandfather, Frank O’Hare, fought with the 51st Highlanders in World War II,” explains Kaitlin. “He was called up to serve having recently graduated from the Glasgow School of Art and he was far too young to deal with the horrendous ordeal that awaited him and the trauma of what he saw forced him to mature beyond his years.”
O’Hare, who came from Laurieston in Glasgow, was one of the thousands of brave Scots captured by the Germans. Despite their lack of weapons and being vastly outnumbered, the 51stHighland Division fought bravely to hold off the German army. Their actions allowed thousands of British and French soldiers to escape at Dunkirk, saving countless lives, but eventually to avert slaughter General Fortune surrendered.
“My grandfather along with many other young Scots endured a forced march though France and Belgium and was eventually piled into a cattle truck and transported to Eastern Poland. He spent five long years as a prisoner of war mainly enduring hard labour in the salt mines. Later he was transferred to a concentration camp with an incredibly high death rate and his survival was something of a miracle.”
The man who returned after the war was changed both physically and mentally,” adds Kaitlin “and despite the desperate conditions which he had endured as a prisoner of war throughout his life he felt incredible guilt that he had not fought for his country on the front lines.”
“The sacrifice of the 51st Highlanders at St Valéryshould not be forgotten, nor the experiences of the young Scots taken prisoner. I hope that the story of the brave men like my grandfather will be kept alive through my books.”
Elsewhere in Communication Design photography specialist, Yeong Yao Ting, has documented the remarkable work of three Scottish stables - Stable Life in the Scottish Borders, HorseBack UK in Aberdeenshire and Riding for the Disabled Glasgow Group - in a project exploring how equine-assisted learning and therapy is helping people overcome physical and mental challenges. The designer worked with the three stables to create a book of exquisite black and white photographs that capture the special relationship between horse and rider that has proved such an important support for people suffering from a range of mental and physical conditions. In the book Yeong Yao Ting has documented the physical attributes of the horses as well as therapy sessions.
“Research has shown that the use of companion animals can significantly enhance health and well being,” says Yeong Yao Ting. “Through my photographs I wanted to showcase the different types of equine related learning and therapy that is being delivered here in Scotland and am grateful to Stable Life, HorseBack UK and Riding for the Disabled Glasgow Group for having the opportunity to document the remarkable work that they do.”
Graphic Design specialist, Lucy Pollok, has created a work that replicates the timeline of the catalysts that led up to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, as well as the ones that occurred in quick succession after the event. “Each line is a headline from The Telegraph newspaper from April-November 1914,” explains Lucy. “The kerning on the type gets gradually smaller and the point size larger, reaching a stagnant blackness towards the end of the scroll, reflecting the external crisis as well as the static nature of trench war-fare that so characterised this war.”
Images: Robyn Gillies, Deuce prosthetic feetEilidh Johnson’sRoo, James McGinley’s Mino
Bryony Ayre’s FLOW and Joe MacKechnie’s neat
Among the projects presented in Degree Show 2018 by Product Design Engineering students are innovations including a product to make adaptive sport more accessible to para-athletes, making their training easier and more efficient; an incubator adaption system to encourage mother-to-baby connection for critically ill or premature infants; a tool designed to help physiotherapists perform better gait assessment on walking stick users; a sensory musical toy to help children on the autistic spectrum communicate freely; the ultimate accessory for menstrual cups; a sustainable and modular sofa design that extends the sofa’s lifetime and enables reuse and recycling; and a fully mobile cocktail bar.
This is the latest cohort of students following the programme that has produced leading international designers including Jonathan Biddle - Industrial Design Senior Manager, Amazon; Amy Corbett, Senor Designer - Lego; Etienne Iliffe-Moon - Director of Industrial Design (San Francisco) for BMW; Scott McGuire - RDD Manager, Dyson and Sam Smith - Design Lead, Apple.
Robyn Gillies has developeda product to make adaptive sport more accessible to para-athletes, making their training easier and more efficient. Working closely with Scott Meenagh, a double above-knee amputee, who
has rowed as part of the GB team and this year competed in PyeongChang at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in the Para Nordic Skiing and the Biathlon she developed The Deuce Prosthetic Feet to help address the time wasted by Scott in swapping between 2 pairs of prosthetic feet, a task which currently only prosthetists are supposed to undertake as if it is done incorrectly it can cause misalignment of the joints, risking long term discomfort and damage.
Neonatal wards are clinical, sterilised environments with a steady chorus of beeps and flashes. They help critically ill babies survive, however, parents often find the ward stressful and daunting. That’s where Eilidh Johnson’sRoo incubator adaption system can help. Roois a two-part system made up of the Heartbeat Module and Support-to-Sling blanket. Each product tackles a different research insight concerning the barriers to skin-to-skin contact within modern neonatal wards.
In the UK, around a third of the population aged 65 and over experience at least one fall each year. Falls are the most common cause of emergency hospital admissions for elderly people, and one of the main reasons for losing the ability to live independently. Physiotherapists can help elderly patients to stay on their feet by assessing their gait quality. However, performing gait assessment
in a clinical environment is
not a good representation of everyday walking behaviour. Katrin Brunk’sVado is a gait monitoring device that replaces the standard ferrule on the end of a walking stick, providing physiotherapists with insight into how the patient’s walking behaviour varies in everyday life.
James McGinley’s Mino
was created to help bridge the communication barrier those on the autistic spectrum may face, which can lead to isolation and anxiety developing.Using bright visual colours with tactile materials to provide sensory feedback, Mino utilises music as a vehicle to allow children to express their emotions. When a coloured band is touched, a sound is created. Chords are formed through multiple bands being pressed at the same time, rewarding cooperative play and facilitating fun interactions amongst users.
Bryony Ayre has chosen to tackle the topic of menstruation and fight against the stigma attached to periods. Menstrual cups are cheaper and more sustainable
than tampons/pads, but
the maintenance required dramatically exceeds that of their disposable counterparts. FLOW bridges the convenience gap between re-usables and disposables
Around 1.6m tonnes of furniture are thrown out in the UK annually, with sofas being the most common form of
bulky waste. The decreased lifetime is caused by an inability to clean, wash or transport sofas easily. Repair is more expensive than a new product and users want a lifestyle
that accommodates the constantly changing fashion. The materials used are neither renewable nor recyclable, and therefore every single sofa ends up in landfill. Saskia Goeres’Sofa for Life, which has been shortlisted for the 2018 Converge Challenge, customizes the sofa online and continues to adapt the sofa to accommodate change of style or life situation
Joe MacKechnie’s neatis a fully mobile cocktail bar which offers users the ability to transport, set up and operate a cocktail bar quickly, easily and without any assistance. Working closely with industry professionals and engaging in the user experience MacKechniequickly identified the problem areas within the pop-up bar community. This led to a design which moves away from the main alternative of small compact bars and toward a product that allows movement and storage of stock and equipment so that once on site, it is very quick and easy to ‘set up & shake’.
Images: (top) work by Claudia Veneroni and ErinMcQuarrie
(bottom) work by Eve Campbell, Kevin Cleary and Andrew Sutherland
Textile Design students across four different specialisms – Embroidery, Knit, Print and Weave, present their final year collections in the Reid Gallery.
Work by Embroidery specialist Claudia Veneroni, from Edinburgh can be seen across the London Underground at the moment on posters for the GSA’s “Degree Show” in London. Her Dystopian Hong Kong collection combines illustration and textile design to tell surrealist stories inspired by travels through Hong Kong. Her designs capture a playful and sometimes humorous depiction of local life from wet markets, fruit and flower markets, creating a narrative where things are not quite what they seem, capturing the city with a dystopian twist.
Print specialist, Erin McQuarrie, has used the Mackintosh Building as the starting point for her Degree Show collection. She worked with imagery of the building’s interior post fire which was gathered during site visits, and was also inspired by a selection of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock prints which informed Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s design.
Embroidery specialist Kevin Cleary has been inspired by working practices of product designers and other design disciplines. He has created a collection of playful objects and tactile fabrics intended for interior spaces
Knit specialist Andrew Sutherland from Shetland has created a collection of knitted masks that take inspiration from children's drawings and the playfulness and inventiveness which takes place within their creation. Unusual and exciting creatures are a common occurrence within children's drawings and Andrew has attempted to replicate this fascination with character in his work. Because children are physically smaller than adults they perceive their drawings to be larger. To match this, the masks are at an exaggerated large-scale.
Print specialist Eve Campbell from Bridge of Weir has taken inspiration from the Scottish tundra – the area on the boundary between the shore and the land where lichens and mosses grow on rocks and plants with a delicate intricacy. Her collection captures these microcosms of colour, pattern, shape and texture.
Rowan Berry has taken inspiration from mythologies from different cultures, stories of the earth, talismanic objects, emotional connections to objects and folk history for her Degree Show collection using materials that are connected to the earth, including metal, gemstones and textiles. This idea of connection to the earth continues into the colour palette. The pieces are mainly 3d-printed and then cast into precious and non-precious metal. “These objects provide a comfort, hold a promise, wish, feelings of love or prayer, and help the owner better understand and cope with the world,”says Rowan.
The starting point of Lyndsay Fairley’s collection is photographs taken from walks along the East Coast of Scotland, in particular North Queensferry and Cramond beach. The designer was particularly inspired by the compositions created by materials being washed up there, which have a tactile, spontaneous quality. She further abstracted these images by drawing in a very free-manner. “Focusing on tone and texture I developed my jewellery from these, exploiting the naturally haphazard qualities of the compositions on the shore,” she says. The collection features brooches, necklaces and individual earrings in variety of finishes including all with a muted colour palette.
Ailsa Morrant’s work gently promotes and enables the celebration of everyday moments - the kind of everyday moments that could increase our daily happiness and contentment if we were more aware of them, instead of letting them rush past.“The traditional jewellery we wear and cherish is mainly concerned with retrospective moments rather than the moment we are in or are yet to experience,” says Alice. For her Degree Show collection Ailsa has created a series of “medals for everyday moments” entitled ‘Sensing every moment: a celebration of the ordinary’ which feature small balloons among other materials. “I like making brooches because you pin them over your heart and I Iove the materiality and fleeting excitement of balloons,” she adds.
Debbie King’s work explores the notion of jewellery being viewed as a plaything. She noticed that people often play and fidget with their jewellery without realising they are doing it. “This posed the question - is jewellery’s everyday purpose to be something that the wearer takes out their daily stresses on without even realising?” she says. The visual inspiration for the work is from anatomy - a series of drawings she made based on specimens she saw at The Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University and the Surgeons’ Hall Museums in Edinburgh. “I used the body as my visual inspiration creating pieces designed from the body highlighting the close relationship jewellery and the body,” she adds.
For Shona Dobie pattern and repetition are key to her designs. She has created a collection of fun and playful kinetic pieces in a limited colour palette featuring red, black and silver, combining precious metals with enamel. Astrid Jaroslawsky, meanwhile has created a collection which reflects the materials of Glasgow’s buildings. Her collection features gold, silver and diamonds as well as typical Glasgow materials including sandstone. “Inspired by Glasgow I aimed to explore items of jewellery as pieces which recall places and experiences,” she says.
Innovation School
Images: Jonas GentlePlastic Oceans, Daniel McLaren Durm
Product Design at the Glasgow School of Art is an evolving practice that defies easy categorisation. The students are about to enter a world that is increasingly complex and fragmented and in their Degree Show projects have approached a wide range of issues being faced in this complex world. They have looked in particular at how co-design – working in an equal partnership with the end user – is vital to the creation of successful solutions.
By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. This is not only an environmental disaster, but an issue that will have a devastating effect on the communities that build their livelihoods upon the sea. However, the vast amount of plastic found in the ocean is not only a threat, it also opens up a unique opportunity, asserts Product Design student, Jonas Gentle. His Plastic Oceans project is an exploration of how design could play a role in the co-creation of an alternative future for coastal towns in a post-fish economy.
Modern clothing consumption which is built on temporary use, excess and longing for symbolic meaning results in the apparel industry being one of the largest industrial polluters, second only to oil. This urges us to ask a question - how can we switch from consumer society, where materials matter little, to a truly material society, where materials are cherished? Gabriele Stonciute proposes The Wearer which aims to become a movement of influence and awareness to help make this vital change.
Dermatophagia, is a compulsive disorder, which sees an individual biting their skin during times of anxiousness. Often carried out subconsciously, the condition’s primary target, hands, can be subjected to intense biting, which can result in them becoming extremely sensitive and painful. Through a family of specifically designed artefacts, Durm, Daniel McLaren aims to respond to the needs of those who experience this often painful condition in an attempt to ease daily life pains they encounter.
Images: Michael Galraith myPerception.alter);and Frank Conway
“I was thinking about the idea of Catholicism as an institution, about power and money, about artists in the renaissance and how heir work only focussed on religion. I was genuinely interested in what us Catholicism serves today and in future society and if it is actually needed.”
Michael Galbraith
Interaction Design student, Michael Galbraith, has created an immersive augmented and virtual reality installation. The viewer is invited to put on a VR headset and headphones to experience Catholic iconography and rituals. Galbraith has selected three Catholic icons which have personal significance - Communion, a cup of tea and a sandwich, and The Rosary. The project visualises the designer’s perception of Catholic ritualistic practice and the deeper meaning of some of the common icons.
Meanwhile, Frank Conway has installed a kinetic sculpture in one of the driven voids. Movement of the work is driven by recorded data with the sculpture replicating the movement of trees over a period of twenty-four hours.
Mackintosh School of Architecture
Images: responses to the Stage 5 City Brief by Maria Kortiashvili Liam Cooke and Lloyd Robertson
Stage 5 Architecture at the GSA aims to encourage confident, individual, disciplined, critical and imaginative work that is researched in depth, argued with clarity and supported with artefacts of the highest standard. The task of Stage 5 is to undertake a self-selected programme of study, out of which grow a series of questions, which are answered through a rigorous design exploration founded on philosophical, economic, social, historical, cultural, technological, material, political, programmatic, strategic, contextual, environmental, construction, structural and architectural research. This year the students have been challenged to investigate the theme of Transformation in the context of Madrid.
Madrid has undergone many transformations in its historical past, which have influenced the way in which the city has evolved and continues to, physically, culturally and politically. The students have looked at the city examining place, space, systems, territory, scale, context and the relationships these have with the cultural, political, social and economic forces that impact Madrid and its residents. Their investigations have culminated in the development of transformational proposals which are presented via plans, models, photography and other material.
In "Terrain Vague" or Exploration of Void and Sense in Madrid, Maria Kortiashvili explored the urban phenomenon known as “Urban Voids”. In her solution to the problem of how they damage city environments she suggests designing and building series of “Environmental Sanctuaries” around Madrid with the main building located on Calle Baja, 20, La Latina. In The City Through the Lens, Liam Cookelooks to film - to its exploration of theme and to its techniques - to create an architectural proposal which responds to the urban condition of a particular piece of the city - the Madrid slab blocks. Taking themes from Pedro Almodóvar’s film ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’,Cooke offers an intervention designed to enhance the lives of those whose home is in the site. Lloyd Robertson has looked at conservation and adaptive re-use of the former market of Legazpi proposing a building conservation hub for the protection and conserving of Madrid’s built environment
  |
Images: responses to the Stage 3 brief TRANS plant by Esmee Greenan, Lea Wiegmann and Ruben Stadler.
Among the briefs addressed by Stage 3 Architecture students was TRANS plant in which they were challenged to transform redundant car parking structures to places of food production and distribution. Some facts that the students considered were:
By 2050 80% of the world’s population will live in cities
We currently require space the size of South America for the human plant harvesting - that will increase with a predicted population increase of 3 billion by 2050
We will soon not have enough cultivatable land to produce the food that we need to feed this growing urbanised world population.
Geo-political decision making, foreign policies, war, climate change are making large areas of our planet uninhabitable and unsuitable for cultivation, contributing to forcing indigenous populations away from their lands and those lands further from food production.
In parts of the USA water rights are more valuable than gold mining rights due to shortage of supply.
Doing nothing will not address this problem and a new approach to production, security and distribution in the food chain is now a necessity. Meanwhile, Stage 2 Architecture students have explored the themes of place and dwelling in the context of the gradual decline of small towns. Working with the communities of three towns in Scotland – Dumfries, Lanark and Galashiels – they analysed the challenges faced by the towns and based on this analysis developed collections of dwellings and an associated amenity space looking particularly at issues of neighbourhood within specific areas of the studies towns. The students worked with the Stove Network in Dumfries looking at sites that have stagnated as car parks for years, with the Lanark Community Development Trust and with Energise Galashiels.
School of Fine Art
Images: (top) Lucy Lamort, Kaylin Scott, (middle) The Kirkwood Brothers
Flannery O’Kafka, (bottom) Who Is? Project (Jonas Jessen Hansen and Iman Tajik) and Rosa Quadrelli
Among the 135 artists showing work in the Tontine are 27 Fine Art Photography students, 49 Painting and Print Making students and 59 Sculpture and Environmental Art students.
One of the hard-hitting installations is ‘I’m Not a Bitch I’m Just Not Flirting with You’ in which Lucy Lamort, (Sculpture and Environmental Art) interrogates one of the most powerful political movements of recent times – the #MeToo campaign. The artist combines text works with footage found on the TV, in the newspapers and in social media.
Two graduating Fine Art Photography students Jonas Jessen Hansen and Iman Tajik are showing Who Is? Project work at Degree Show. This on-going collaboration asks the public to question the way we think about each other – our families, our co-workers, those we see living on the street, those we see struggling, those of a different nationality and background. The artists founded the project in particular to tackle issues around immigration. Since World Refugee Day, 20 June 2017, a white flag emblazoned with Who are they? Who are we? has been exhibited across Europe. Starting in July 2018 a new flag will travel across the world, accompanied by a GPS which will enable it to be tracked. “Against the backdrop of the EU Referendum, the US Election outcome and the current rise in nationalism across the globe, it is our hope that the flag will act as a catalyst to discuss division and the growing fear of the stranger,” say Jonas and Iman. “We are all different and it is the fact the we are different that creates an enriched, multicultural society.” The work has been supported by the GSA student association, Huntly-based Deveron Projects, The Poster Association and Red Dragon Flagmakers.
Also showing at Degree Show is work by The Kirkwood Brothers, who create collections of drawings, sculptures, paintings and photographical works created through an intuitive and exciting collaborative process. The work captures two separate views of their world where both the mundane and the eccentric collide. Disability and mental health are not hidden, but embraced and form the soil from which this practice grows.
“My brother Jordon and I create work intuitively together in my studio at the art school, working with topics like disability, mental health and popular culture to create a kind of weird and wonderful utopia that's for everyone,” explains Jonathan Kirkwood, a Fine Art Photography student. “We both have completely different ways of looking at the world and they both end up mixed into one big ball of colour, speaking about everything from autism, anxiety and depression, keeping our humour at the forefront in the attempt to make the work as accessible as possible to everyone who comes along to see it.”
“Without each other the work wouldn't be possible or hold the same weight,” he adds. “We make work in conversation and just want people to see that often the stereotypes that come with disabilities or mental health issues are far from the truth, it's not always doom and gloom. Most of all we don't want to create contemporary art that makes people uncomfortable or feel like they can't identify with it. It's all about being fun and just playing with the material, making work that hopefully lingers with the viewer for a while.”
Familial Semantics by Painting & Printmaking student Kaytlin Scottis an extensive and on-going body of work looking at the artist’s relationship with her father following the separation of her parents, solely from her perspective. Repeated language and imagery alongside fragile and transparent domestic-like materials are utilised in a cathartic investigation exploring her experience of this changing dynamic.
Fine Art Photography student, Flannery O’Kafka has explored her own history through her artwork. Earlier this year she travelled to Jasper, Indiana, the town of her conception and where her birth father still lives to be artist in residence at Dubois County Museum. The previous year she had travelled to Florida where she met her birth-grandmother for the first time. Her Degree Show presentation combines work made in Jasper and Florida with family work in Scotland and England. The artist describes the installation as “a fractured family album that hangs somewhere between an emotional document and a fiction”. In the tradition of Roland Barthes’ ‘Mourning Diary’, it’s a very public grief: a story of crippled minds and bodies, growing up playing house, and pregnant teenagers sent to convents by the cover of night. It’s a stab at bridging the disconnect between my possible (from birth) futures (including ones where my children are not in existence), my parallel histories, and the shadowy hinterland of suffering that lies between (and intersects) both of these.Work made by Flannery O’Kafka atDubois County Museum can be seen on the GSA Degree Show posters this year.
The centrepiece of Painting & Printmaking student Rosa Quadrelli’s Degree Show installation is Charlie, a large-scale puppet made from wire, masking tape and cotton. Details were added with watercolour, acrylic and clay. It is one of many large-scale colourful installations on show across two floors of the Tontine Building.