Alberta Whittle
Edinburgh 11-17 December
About the work
Against the backdrop of political and social turbulence, Alberta invites us to come together to confront difficult truths from both the past and our present times, in order to find collective healing. Often drawing on profoundly personal materials, poetic imagery, and intimate stories, Alberta’s message is ultimately one of hope; hope for a different future, and a call for us to ‘invest in love’.
The central work of the city takeover titled Invest in Love comes from a series of new watercolours by Alberta currently on display in the National Galleries of Scotland: Modern One. Inscribed in hand-painted script, the work acts both as a direct call to action and as a reminder to audiences (and herself) to bring love into the everyday – love for the self and love for others. Alberta has used this phrase on a number of occasions throughout her career including in her solo presentation at La Biennale di Venezia in 2022 where she represented Scotland. Other messages in the billboard series include Fill your heart with hope and Step lightly, tender encouragements by the artist that come in the spirit of love, care and hope. These are situated alongside more defiant and rebellious calls such as Raise the alarm, as well as Create Dangerously, a reference to Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat and their meditation on the lived experience of an immigrant artist, telling stories of those that have managed to thrive and create in spite of the harrowing events they have gone through.
Alberta Whittle says:
‘I return to bell hooks time and time again. She reminds us to centre love in how we move through the world and to replenish ourselves in our active learning with others. Living in the catastrophe of racial and cultural violence, we need to hold onto love with all our hearts. Invest in love.’
Concept and artwork: Alberta Whittle
Graphic Design support: Maeve Redmond
About Alberta Whittle
Alberta was born in 1980 in Bridgetown, Barbados, and she lives and works in Glasgow.
After studying on the Tapestry course at Edinburgh College of Art, she completed a Masters in Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Edinburgh, and Research Associate at The University of Johannesburg in South Africa. Alberta received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2022. In 2020, she was awarded a Turner Bursary, the Frieze Artist Award and a Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award. She was the Margaret Tait Award winner for 2018-19. In 2022, Alberta represented Scotland at the international festival of the 59th Venice Biennale, commissioned by the Scotland+ Venice partnership.
Alberta has exhibited and performed in various solo and group shows internationally, selected solo exhibitions include: ‘Even in the most beautiful place in the world, our breath can falter’, The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2023); ‘Dipping below a waxing moon, the dance claims us for release’, The Holburne Museum, Bath (2023); ‘deep dive (pause) uncoiling memory’, Scotland + Venice, 59th Venice Biennale (2022); ‘Congregation (Creating Dangerously)’, Grand Union, Birmingham (2022); ‘RESET’, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh (2021); ‘business as usual: hostile environment’, Glasgow Sculpture Studios (Part of Glasgow International 2021); and ‘How flexible can we make the mouth’, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee (2019).
Locations
The week-long takeover from 11-17 December will see Whittle’s work presented on billboards and advertising spaces in twelve locations across Edinburgh including North Bridge, Market Street, Newhaven, Haymarket and Leith.
Images:
1: Alberta Whittle, ‘Invest in Love’, 2023 Installation shot, Meadowbank, Edinburgh. All About Love commission by BUILDHOLLYWOOD. Photo by Keith Hunter
2: Alberta Whittle, ‘Fill your heart with hope’, 2023 Installation shot, Brunswick Rd, Edinburgh. All About Love commission by BUILDHOLLYWOOD. Photo by Keith Hunter
3: Alberta Whittle, ‘Invest in Love’, 2023 Installation shot, Calton Rd, Edinburgh. All About Love commission by BUILDHOLLYWOOD. Photo by Neil Hanna
4: Alberta Whittle, ‘Create Dangerously’, 2023 Installation shot, Portobello Rd, Edinburgh. All About Love commission by BUILDHOLLYWOOD. Photo by Keith Hunter
5: Alberta Whittle, ‘Finding pleasure in diamonds With Grace’, 2023 Installation shot, Edinburgh. All About Love commission by BUILDHOLLYWOOD. Photo by Keith Hunter
All images are courtesy of the Artist and The Modern Institute / Toby Webster Ltd., Glasgow