In the Alternative futures - who decides? exhibition, the people of Lochend, Restalrig and Craigentinny tell stories of their lived experiences through art, exploring their memories, experiences, realities, hopes and dreams.
This exhibition is a collaboration between the Ripple Project and the Binks Hub from the University of Edinburgh. Together they designed ‘The Ripple Project: Past, Present and Future’ and worked through a variety of workshops, art-making sessions, and fun activities to create the four artworks which are being presented at Dovecot Studios. The project has revealed much about the experiences, views and hopes for the future of this community, including the wide diversity of different priorities and interests to be found there. This diversity of thought reflects a problem the Ripple Project has identified over the years. Much of the research and data that is used to govern policies, funding decisions and narratives does not account for the full humanity and human experiences of the people who live there. The key message from their project is that there is a collective demand being made of those with the power and influence to effect change for the following to be raised up as priorities:
- A desire for the lived experiences and wisdom of community members to be recognised and validated.
- A desire for more green spaces, and for the management of greenery and green space in the local area to be improved.
- A desire for investment in more community and civic spaces in the local area.
Workshops and Activities
All workshops are drop-in and free admission, so feel free to join at any time during the session! Children must be supervised by an adult at all times.
Thursday 3 October, 12:00 - 17:00:
'Making and Drawing an Alternative Future Town' Workshop by artist Bobby Sayers
A drop-in workshop for all ages! Come and draw and add your questions about the future of city making on our map, or make buildings and add to our colourful imaginative 'Alternative Future Town'!
Saturday 5 October, 13:00 - 14:30:
'A Map of Dreams for a Future Edinburgh' Workshop by Autumn Roesch-Marsh
Drop-in collage workshop for children aged 5+. What dreams and hopes do you have for the future of Edinburgh? Come along and try collage-making, to create an artwork which represents one (or more) of your dreams for the future of the city!
Running throughout Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 October:
Thu & Fri 10:00 - 17:00, Sat 10:00 - 15:00
Ekphrastic writing
Ekphrastic writing involves the description or interpretation of a visual work of art in a written form, such as a poem, a story, or an essay. We invite you to come in and write a short poem or story in response to one of the art works in the exhibition!
Tapestry Weaving
Join us for this wonderful opportunity to add to a community tapestry, woven in real time during the exhibition. Pick a colour and a texture that means something to you and let us know why you chose it - together we can create a tapestry which holds peoples stories and shows the complexities and brilliance of lives lived.
About The Ripple Project
The Ripple Project (The Ripple) was established in 1996 and is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status, operating as a community-led charity and social enterprise. Our mission is to tackle poverty and inequality by responding to local priorities, circumstances and needs in a sustainable way, helping the people of Restalrig, Lochend and Craigentinny to help themselves. The challenges in this context are considerable, as seen through the Scottish Indices of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) data. These show that the area is among the 10% most deprived in Scotland across four categories, three of which place it in the 5% most deprived. The Ripple Project offers a wide and diverse range of services and provisions for this community. The most prominent include: Open Access Youth Work; an Older People’s Service; Health and Wellbeing services; Food Dignity work through the Café and Ripple Refillery; and Community Democracy and mobilisation.
The Binks Hub was formed in 2021 through a donation to the University of Edinburgh by the Binks Trust. We draw on creativity and the arts to co-create community-driven research that makes a difference to people’s lives. Based on an ethos of working together in equitable and respectful collaborations we strive to ensure that co-creative forms of knowledge are produced for the benefit of the communities with whom we partner, and that this knowledge is shared, valued and used as evidence in policy and decision-making. We are involved in research on a range of topics and themes related to social inequalities and social justice. What makes the Binks Hub stand out from most similar groups is the integration of artistic and creative methods and practices. We believe these offer opportunities for more imaginative and creative expressions of community knowledge and desires.
