The City: Commissioned Art Writer

We are delighted to announce that Elouise Blackburn has been selected as the commissioned writer for ‘The City’ curated by Holly Rennie Brown, a project made possible through Open Fund support from Creative Scotland.

AGA’s Custodian Sorcha Dallas said: ‘AGA’s approach to celebrating community is being developed by Holly via ’The City’ project to explore Glasgow through a queer and working class lens. We are delighted to work with Elouise on this new text commission, in response to Holly’s ongoing project. Elouise’s work stood out for its honest, emotive and eloquent way of mapping lived experience onto place. We are excited to see what she will produce and the value it will bring to celebrating communities more widely as part of this project.’

Elouise says, ‘I’m thrilled to have gotten this commission. To work within and write about queer and working class culture in a way that truly celebrates the past and present is such a rare opportunity. I can’t wait to see the kind of interactions and conversations I am able to have, and to hopefully spark, while working on this project. Focusing on connection and community, I aim to relay the history we don’t often see, and capture the city as it really is for most of us who live here.’

Curator, Holly said ‘Elouise’s approach to the project considered the archive as a conversation that is never quite finished. There was a warmth in her words that I felt spoke well to the nature of the archival materials she’ll be working with. I’m really excited to see how she maps ‘The City’ box onto The Alasdair Gray Archive through these varied and rich experiences of Glasgow.’