The art that cannot be hidden

I've always been interested in tattoos.

I started to notice of late that tattoo artists are becoming ever more deserving of the title 'artist', as the work being produced these days is likely to be unique, expressive, and far more aesthetically pleasing than a simple stencil chosen from the wall. And the ever-increasing incidence of sleeves, often grown from one small piece on the arm into a vast wraparound tale, drawing the viewer in with questions.

And that's when I noticed the lines.

Sometimes visible, sometimes implied, almost everyone who gets inked keeps it in places that can be covered - which is understandable, considering the continued discrimination against people with tattoos and piercings. These absences are often conspicuous, challenging the world while silently bowing to perceived standards.

So what of the people who defy these rules? The ones who hear the cries of, "Oh no, you don't want to get a tattoo there" and do it nonetheless? There must be stories in these indelible traces on hands and faces, reasons for choosing to wear a statement so boldly. Or, taking this further, there are some parts of the body that are know to be more sensitive than others; why subject yourself to bonus pain? More stories lie therein...

The only way I know of to investigate is through photographs. As a starting point I think I need a handful of people with visible art on their hands or face who would be willing to have a chat about their tattoos and let me point a camera at them.

Any volunteers? Hit me up on youandyourink@gmail.com!

2013: A slow start...

And so 2013 started with a bang, as is traditional in Edinburgh. I wasn't doing anything much so observed the fireworks from Arthur's Seat.

On New Year's Day this year the ennui was dispelled by a dice-loaded set of New Year's Games, a selection of events at 13 different venues around town. I wandered around a few of them.

The next event in the calendar was Electric Tales: New Year Love-in, the first ET since last summer due to the host, Siân Bevan being out of the country. This featured the talents of Bob Graham, Quentin Reynolds, Rachel McCrum, Poppy La Pilule and Jojo Sutherland.

I've been a fan of Ben Aaronovitch since he wrote some of the most noteworthy Dr Who novels in the 1989-2005 interregnum (hush, I'm allowed to be a nerd). His recent novels have been excellent so I was delighted to see he was going to be in Edinburgh.

Billy Liar was about to go on tour with his new EP and needed some images for the cover, so we spent an evening in the Forest trying to get the right look.

As part of their 50th birthday celebrations the Traverse Theatre ran a competition to select 50 playwrights to work with over 2013, the Traverse 50. In tandem with this the Edinburgh-based stock library Writer Pictures ran a similar competition to find 50 photographers to work with these writers. I had originally applied to this but after discussions with WP we decided it would be more interesting if I was to cover what was going on over the year. And so I went along to meet them (not all 50, as some live very far away) at their first workshop...

Last year Illicit Ink ran a happy poetry event called Happy Verse Day, which was generally deemed a success. And so there was a sequel, Happy Verse Day II, featuring Katherine Tarka, James Spence, Sean Martin, Tom Moore, Sophia Walker, Elspeth Murray, Eliza Langland, Morag Edwards, Emily Dodd and Alec Beattie.

Back to Rally & Broad for The Hangover Special, continuing the trend of getting busier every month. This time featuring Seafieldroad, J L Williams, Rebecca Green, Alan Bissett, Ryan Van Winkle and Kite and the Crane.

First time back at Inspace for what seemed like forever! Future Shorts brought the usual selection of quirky short films, this time preceded by the Edinburgh Film Music Orchestra accompanying some Charlie Chaplin.

And again at Inspace for This Happened... with talks by Gianluca Zaffiro, Varun Nair, Oleg Suran and Shenando Stals.

My friend Nic felt the need to get some nice portraits in his fancy new suit, so we did that...

I discovered that there was a Game Jam to be happening just down the road, so had to investigate. Sadly, it turned out that many of the expected attendees had gone to the Glasgow event instead, leaving Edinburgh a bit quiet.

Matt Collings had a weekend residency at Inspace which I went along to peek at.

And then it was time for the first public event in the Traverse 50 calendar, a performance of the 50 winning plays. This was such a success that they had to put on a second night.

On the last Tuesday of every month the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature team host a Literary Salon, for people to meet and - where relevant - network. I rarely publicise images of these events and over time have just added new ones to the same huge set. This was the first of the year though, so I'll give it a mention.

The StAnza poetry festival launched their 2013 programme in the National Library of Scotland, which was something interesting to do on a Wednesday.

And to end the long, long month on a high note, the Edinburgh International Science Festival had their programme launch and followed it up with an early LateLab at Inspace, with talks on patterns by Madeleine Shepherd and Julia Collins, Heather Angel, DJ Dave House and Dr Keith Skene.

Thank goodness January is over!

Impartiality-manay

The 2012-13 New Year celebrations in Edinburgh saw a new format of reportage, "Blogmanay". A cunning portmanteau of Blogger and Hogmanay, remarkably enough this was not an offering from the same team that tried to give us gems like Incrediburgh, Wellfedinburgh and Romanceisnotdeadinburgh; no, this was blogging-style Hogmanay coverage set largely on Tumblr and Storify, which didn't bode well for quality or coherence of content. Unique Events brought a bunch of travel bloggers to Scotland from around the world to witness the Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations and go on a wee tour of Scotland - then write about it online. And this apparently came to pass for a measly £50,000.

In the current climate of social media über alles this is nothing surprising. What is surprising is how much they were willing and able to spend on it, considering the trend towards crowdsourced media with no payment. For this, I give them credit.

There is a growing trend in the media to send photographers who can write on assignments, rather than a journalist and a photographer. This is a big saving and with time and appropriate training I can see it doing very well. What doesn't work very well is having events covered by a multitude of people posting to Instagram.

Yes, this could provide many perspectives on an event. Yes, it's very zeitgeist-ey. No, it's not terribly interesting or useful compared to having skilled workers reporting on things.

Having a large group of people creating many images of an event that are largely the same and of generally poor quality - especially if they've been put through Instagram - does not equate to having a handful of photographers doing the same job. Neither does being a travel blogger require one to be able to write with anything more than coherence and enthusiasm.

I've tried repeatedly to find the narrative of the Blogmanay coverage. I spend most of my time attached to the internet and yet even I find it befuddling. The Storify is haphazard and, thanks to people not necessarily posting things as they happen, in no particular order. The Tumblr seems to be little more than a stream of tweets and Instagrams, surrounded by the Blogmanay branding.

On a side note, does anyone think that "13 Be Lucky" is a good tagline? And am I the only one who finds the animated GIF both tacky and painfully reminiscent of Web 1.0? They may as well have used the BLINK tag.

After the fuss had subsided the bloggers went on a whistlestop tour of the countryside. It's actually at this point that they came into their own, coming across as genuinely having a good time while not quite being frozen. Alas, the compilation of the post-Homanay Blogmanay stream with the Edinburgh events does further damage to the online summaries. Is #Blogmanay a torchlit procession, a rainy day by a bothy, a dip in the Forth, a fireworks display, a gig?

As a tourism initiative it can only be counted as a success. With so many posts and images showcasing Scotland to followers around the world, the country will surely see the benefit. However, this aspect is not the one that is touted by the organisers. One would think that by having established bloggers reporting on an event there would be exciting, well-rounded coverage; in reality it has been little more than a sponsored holiday for those involved, and much to my surprise they have unanimously praised the treats they were given.

The official line is:

Together with partners EventScotland, VisitScotland, Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG), Festivals Edinburgh, Haggis Adventures and Skyscanner, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay are hosting 21 travel bloggers from around the world to experience Edinburgh and Scotland as one of the world’s premier New Year destinations.

To my mind there is a clear implication there that these bloggers would be reviewing their experiences, whereas they seem to have mostly just raved about it. I can't believe that 21 blogger can agree about everything! To give the bloggers their due, when reporting back on their exploits they've made the point of listing the organisations involved, so at least they're not pretending to be unbiased.

But the actual coverage of the Blogmanay exploits on these blogs is minimal, and mostly restricted to one summary post. I had expected this to be a cross-platform multimedia extravaganza with 21 different streams of discussion, not a lot of simple photographs with hashtag-heavy captions.

As a concept I was not opposed to Blogmany - although I did hate the title, catchy or not. Sadly, I have not been impressed by the practicalities. Perhaps in the future - and it's been successful enough that this sort of thing will be back before long - they will pull it together into a tighter and more professional process.

It's not a bad idea, I think it may just be too soon for it to work on anything other than a promotional level. In my mind somebody had a Great Idea and expected others to make it so without enough time or resources to fully realise its potential. Or perhaps this is the future, and the only people who will get paid are the "digital media experts" while the content creators are squeezed into ill-fitting roles as tag-happy Instagrammers.

My own little disclaimer: last year I did some work for Edinburgh's Hogmanay and did not this year, as a result of the changes in the structure of the coverage; this is why I was eager to see how things went. I am, however, joined by many who cannot be accused of any bias in being disappointed by the outcome.

Paper sculptures - a new chapter

As the #giftED tour was kicking off, the Scottish Book Trust got in touch with the still-anonymous sculptor. Would she be willing to create some new sculptures for the inaugural Book Week Scotland? Joyously, the answer was yes!

This was kept extremely hush-hush, only an handful of people knew it was happening. Even most of the staff at SBT didn't find out until the week before they were publicly announced.

After discussing the brief with the artist it was decided that there would be no more sculptures for Edinburgh and that the five new ones would be spread around Scotland, each in a location that related to the book. As Book Week approached, teasers were sent out to the press and a select number of interested parties in Edinburgh were given a preview.

As Book Week started the first clue was issued. And it wasn't long before Emma Lister turned up at the Mitchell Library in the Glasgow School of Art. What did she find? Alastair Gray’s Lanark!

And for being the first person to find this epic sculpture she received a Lanark-themed cup.

Day two dawned and now that people knew what was at stake there was quite a buzz. A series of Burns-themed clues led Jemma Dornan to the Robert Burns Museum where she found Tam O’Shanter.

On day three it was children from Eriskay Primary School who came to the Am Politician pub on the Isle of Eriskay where they found Compton Mackenzie's Whisky Galore.

Day four was found by Stephen Ryan in J M Barrie's birthplace, a many-sided Peter Pan.

And finally, on the fifth day Morag Jones was led to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island at the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick.

For the time being these will all be staying in these locations, but some are sure to move around. Who knows, perhaps there will be another tour with even more sculptures to show?

In the meantime, it’s not quite the same as seeing them in person but at least these photos can give you an idea of how detailed the wee beasts are.

UPDATE

A box was delivered to the Scottish Poetry Library during the exhibition with instructions that it not be opened until the end of the tour.

On December 7th, the penultimate day of the tour, a crowd gathered to watch the opening of the box.

And they were not disappointed!

Built from a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, a girl sits under a tree wearing a crown and reading a book, while the open page shows Stevenson's poem, To My Mother.

In the tree are the words, "You in a garden green" and "With me were king and".

Then on the girl's crown is the word "Queen". On the trunk of the tree are the words, "Were hunter, soldier, tar"

and the inside of the small book reads, "And all the thousand things that children are".

Bunting in the tree reads "But time, which none can bind, While flowing fast away, leaves love behind." These are all lines from Stevenson's poem, To Willie And Henrietta.

The note accompanying the sculpture read: " .... For the Love of Books. Every ending marks a new beginning."

The story never ends!

11 of 10 - a skeletal swansong

We were all so excited about the final sculptures that the bonus one rather slipped by...

On 25 November 2011 Ian Rankin got in touch with the Edinburgh Bookshop and said that he was expecting a parcel to be delivered and asked if they could let him know when it arrived.

When the parcel arrived the writing on it seemed familiar. A quick text later and Ian arrived to open it. Sure enough, there was another fabulous papery delight, marked 11/10!

The tag reads:

For @Beathhigh A Gift
".... something in us never dies" (R. Burns 1790)

In support of those who turn ideas
into words, words into books ......
& of course books into libraries."



A pair of skeletons perched on a coffin lid, clearly having a good time drinking, smoking and listening to music. By their feet is a crate of bottles and next to them is a turntable and a record sleeve reading "THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD / IAN RANKIN / SOME SECRETS NEVER DIE"



The coffin lid reads "R.I.P. 13/10/11" which is the publishing date of The Impossible Dead.




In other news, the planned exhibition of the sculptures is on track, to be held in the Scottish Poetry Library....

BBC Fast Track on the paper sculptures

One of the best things about the paper sculptures is that everyone who sees them, even online, gets excited and wants to share the joy.

And so last week the BBC were in town for a day, visiting the Scottish Storytelling Centre, National Museum of Scotland and Writers' Museum to make a short piece on them. Since they didn't have time to get around every venue the rest are represented by some of the pictures seen here previously.

You can see it here.

This quickly took up residence in their Most Popular section, in the top 5 for 'Shared' and 'Video/Audio'. Because everyone loves them!

Small note though, I'm not sure who the journalist featured has been talking to but since we're fairly certain the anonymous artist is a woman I suspect they've got it wrong...

Sculptor gone animated

A mysterious new Twitter account called "a book for xmas" has appeared and is tweeting @ various recipients of sculptures and others involved.

The tweets read "In support of libraries, books, words, ideas and wishing you a magical xmas" and links to a stop motion video Christmas card on Vimeo:



Those mentioned are: @byleaveswelive, @CuratorEMG, @NatLibScot, @MichaelMacLeod1 (journalist who wrote up the story extensively on the Guardian), @TalesOfOneCity, @NtlMuseumsScot, @EdinBookshop, @HughesPeg (formerly of @byleaveswelive), @Edinburgh_CC, @ScotStoryCentre, @EdBookFest, @EdinCityofLit, @AnnaNotKarenina (formerly of @EdinCityofLit), @Filmhouse, and apparently @chrisdonia would have if I hadn't noticed and remarked upon it already...

Paper Sculptures - Gotta catch them all!

Yesterday afternoon staff at the Writer's Museum found something atop the donations box in the Robert Louis Stevenson room.

A wonderfully atmospheric street scene with what appears to be a silvery moon with wisps of cloud hanging from it. This tag reads:

"@CuratorEMG A Gift
"The stories are in the
stones" Ian Rankin
In support of Libraries, Books,
Words, Ideas ...... and
Writers."

And the 8/10 in the corner, confirming that we've found them all!

The cover says, "the stories are in the stones / Ian Rankin" ...

...which is fitting as it has been sculpted from a copy of Ian Rankin's Hide and Seek.

Inside the book are an array of people with birds on wires and a streetlight...

There are even goings-on visible behind some of the windows, as well as a pentagram scrawled on a wall in red with the signs of the zodiac around it.

Along the front of the scene have been placed the words, "commingled out of Good and evil;" Misha Hoekstra pointed out that this is a line from Jekyll & Hyde, "I have observed that when I wore the semblance of Edward Hyde, none could come near to me at first without a visible misgiving of the flesh. This, as I take it, was because all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil," and that Ian Rankin has said of Hide & Seek that he was hoping to create an updated, Edinbugh-based version of Stevenson's story.

The curators are looking into ways to display this piece although it's possible that it will have to live in a different venue due to considerations of space - the Writer's Museum is absolutely packed with stuff! They're terribly happy with it though; apparently they had been hoping to receive one and now feel very lucky to have had one of the last three.

So this seems to be the end of the story. There is talk of organising some sort of exhibition but so far it's just an idea. Some of the 'gifts' are viewable anyway - those in the Scottish Poetry Library, the Scottish Storytelling Centre and Central Library (the gramophone in the National Library seems to have been temporarily displaced). The rest will hopefully find a place in the public eye and I'll keep an eye on them as I have grown rather attached.

Many thanks to whoever has been crafting and distributing these magical objects, and thanks on behalf of the creator to those who have followed their discovery with such infectious delight.

Paper Sculptures: The final chapter

"It's important that a story is not too long ......does not become tedious ......."

There was a flurry of excitement when someone at the Scottish Poetry Library spotted this note in their guest book:

"Hopefully next time I'll be able to linger longer - I've left a
little something for you near Women's Anthologies X. In support of
Libraries, Books, Words and Ideas...."

A quick dash into the library led to the discovery of another gift.

The tag on this read:

"To @ByLeavesWeLive.......
THE GIFTS "Gloves of bee's ful,
cap of the Wren's Wings......."
Norman McCaig
.... maybe sometimes impossible things...
In support of LIbraries, Books, Words
Ideas...."

And with the suspicious addition in the corner reading 10/10.

So here we have a cap made of a wing.

A wing, of course, made of exquisitely crafted paper feathers.

And with it a pair of paper gloves...

... made in the texture of a bee.

And an explanation!

"It's important that a story is not too long ......does not become tedious .......

'You need to know when to end a story,' she thought.

Often a good story ends where it begins. This would mean a return to the
Poetry Library. The very place where she had left the first of the ten.

Back to those who had loved that little tree, and so encouraged her to try
again .......and again.

Some had wondered who it was, leaving these small strange objects. Some
even thought it was a 'he'! ....... As if!

Others looked among Book Artists, rather good ones actually.......

But they would never find her there. For though she does make things, this
was the first time she had dissected books and had used them simply be-
cause they seemed fitting....

Most however chose not to know..... which was the point really.

The gift, the place to sit, to look, to wonder, to dream..... of the impossible
maybe.......

A tiny gesture in support of the special places.....

So, here, she will end this story, in a special place ... A Poetry Library .....
where they are well used to 'anon.'

But before exiting ...a few mentions. There could be more, because we
have all colluded to make this work....... Just a few though.

- the twitter community who in some strange way gave rise to the idea in
the first place

-@chrisdonia who gave the story a place, a shape and some great pictures

- and not least @Beathhigh whose books and reputation have been shame-
lessly utilised in the making of a mystery ........

...... But hold on. Someone's left behind a pair of gloves and a cap..........?

Cheers Edinburgh It's been fun!

X

A wonderful end to a wonderful story and a lovely mention for a humble photographer! But talk of ten sculptures had everyone a-flutter. There were only eight we knew of, what of the remaining two? Could they have been lost? stolen? or worse, thrown away by someone who didn't realise what they had found?

Mercifully the answer was forthcoming the next day. The National Museum of Scotland had received a gift, found on the plinth under a skeletal stag. A consciencious member of staff had found it and passed it to his supervisor, thinking it might be something more than average lost property. It soon made its way up the chain of command until it came to rest in the Director's office for safety.

Meanwhile the museum staff were abuzz with the imminent arrival of their millionth visitor since reopening (which was a surprise as that wasn't really expected until about August 2012) so they didn't have time to tell the world about it until that had died down.

And so another is unveiled!

A Tyrannosaurus Rex, bursting from the tattered leaves of a book. And what book could it be other than Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World?

The tag here reads:

"For @NtlMuseumsScot A Gift
Your friends at @edbookfest
suggested you might like this.
.... In support of libraries,
books, words, ideas and those
places that house our treasures......"

And in the corner, 9/10.

Hidden amidst the tattered leaves of the book are tiny men with weapons that probably wouldn't do much damage to the beast, as its bloodstained jaw seems to prove.

The museum hope to exhibit this to coincide with the 26 Treasures series.

And what of the last?