10 free exhibitions to visit this weekend in Scotland
https://andgallery.co.uk/exhibitions/116-surface-tensions-stephan-ehrenhofer-molly-thomson-derek-wilson/works/?_cmspreview=1
Raindrops of Rani
2 August-2 November. Entry free. [[Edinburgh]] Printmakers, 1 Dundee Street, [[Edinburgh]], EH3 9FP.
Aqsa Arif's exhibition uses elements of South Asian folklore to explore themes of fractured identity, displacement, and cultural synthesis through fantasy and world-building. This multimedia installation encompassing film, textile, screenprints and sculpture is set against the backdrop of the 2006 multi-million pound television commercial 'Paint' which saw 70,000 litres of coloured paint explode in and over her childhood council flat.
https://edinburghprintmakers.co.uk/
LOVE is the thing
9-29 August. Entry free. Upright Gallery, 3 Barclay Terrace, Edinburgh, EH10 4HP.
Imogen Alabaster is a contemporary artist living in Leith who has been exhibiting nationally for over 20 years and was even a contestant in the 2024 Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year contest. For this exhibition, Alabaster has focused on love. The images are both highly personal and universal self-portraits that explore identity, motherhood and transformation.
https://www.uprightgallery.com/
The Self Portrayed
2 August-29 May 2026. Entry free. Aberdeen [[Art]] Gallery, Schoolhill, AB10 1FQ.
Two artists have been commissioned by Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museum to interpret a collection of 94 Victorian portraits. Annalee Davis and Richard Maguire were selected to create artworks based on Alexander Macdonald's portrait collection from 1878 and both have taken different routes to put their own spin on the historic artworks.
https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/AAGM
Do Rocks Remember Lava?
7 August. Entry free. Listen Gallery, 60 York Street, Glasgow, G2 8JX.
Do Rocks Remember Lava? (Image: unknown)
Head along for the launch night of this multisensory curatorial publication that explores geological agency, deep time and non-extractive modes of engagement. For their launch night, DRRL have put together a dynamic programme of sound and performance.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/do-rocks-remember-lava-sonic-publication-launch-tickets-1409228042009?aff=oddtdtcreator
Empire Retold: other voices from the British Empire Exhibition
2-9 August. Entry free. Garnethill Gallery, Reid Building, Glasgow School of [[Art]], 164 Renfrew Street, G3 6RQ.
The Empire Exhibition of 1938 was a major international exposition held in Bellahouston Park to showcase the achievements of the British Empire and attracted over 13 million visitors during its six-month duration. This new exhibition highlights the voices of people who were not widely represented in the official histories and legacy of the event, alongside contemporary Glaswegians who reflect on their own connections to Glasgow.
https://gsaexhibitions.co.uk/
SEEDLINGS: Diasporic Imaginaries
2-14 August. Entry free. Varies venues across Scotland (see event website for details)
This group exhibition explores the ways to connect with our world through other-than-human perspectives. Challenging the boundaries between culture and nature, the exhibition looks to destabilise colonial systems, categories and hierarchies that tend to favour scientific theory and marginalise ancestral knowledges and indigenous cosmologies.
https://travellinggallery.com/current-exhibition/
The Breakery
2-15 August. Entry free. No31, 29 Newtown Street, Duns, TD11 3AS.
Artists Lily Ashrowan, John Ayscough and Kevin Harman have put together an exhibition that presents a dialogue between their text-based practices. The trio have in common a freedom of interdisciplinary experimentation and move between formats and forms that meet the needs of the artwork, they also share an intention and urgency in their practice.
https://no31.uk/exhibition/the-breakery/
Isle of Riso: A Celebration of Four Years of Risography Printing in the Highlands
2-17 August. Entry free. Inverness Creative Academy, Stephens Street, IV2 3JP.
This exhibition marks four years of risograph printing in the Highlands and seeks to celebrate the experimental, collaborative spirit that has shaped the Isle of Riso. The exhibition has transformed the space at Inverness Creative Academy's Assembly Hall into a vibrant, layered showcase of community-driven printmaking and features artists, processes and practices shaped by Risograph's distinctive aesthetic and experimental nature.
https://www.waspsstudios.org.uk/space/inverness-creative-academy/
Long Hot Summer by Andy Keir (Image: Andy Keir)
Long, Hot Summer
2 August-24 September. Entry free. Roseleaf, 23.24 Sandport Place, Leith, EH6 6EW.
Leith based artist Andy Keir has put together a collection of contemporary paintings inspired by the local area. This is the second exhibition from the Dundee-born painter who hosted a successful 'Leith' show earlier in the year.
https://www.andykeirart.com/long-hot-summer
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My mum produced a porn film - all I remember is her tears
Arriving home from university to find my strict South Asian mother watching pornography felt like one of those 'I bet you're wondering how I got here' record-scratch moments. Surrounded by a Channel 4 film crew and bright lights, my mother, Jane, was red-faced while watching a threesome and listening to a cacophony of moans. She was doing it for a three-part series called Mums Make Porn in 2019, which followed five mothers producing porn they'd feel comfortable having their adult children watch. They faced explicit videos, sex toys and live-action porn sets. The aim was to tackle the misogyny and exploitation rampant in mainstream porn and challenge its male-dominated narratives. My mother was invited to be a part of the series after the production company approached her on social media. I was astonished that she agreed, but when she asked me if I approved, my curiosity got the better of me and, with some trepidation – Mum had never even seen 50 Shades of Grey, let alone porn – I said yes. Inwardly, I hoped that her participation in the show might lead to more open conversations about sex between us – she was about to be slapped in the face with the cultural gap that I had been navigating for years. Growing up, the only discussions that Mum and I had about sex were her bi-annual missions of barging into my room to proclaim, 'I hope you're still a virgin?' X Factor icon Diana Vickers and Metro's dating expert Alice Giddings dive into your wildest sex, love, and dating dilemmas – every Tuesday. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube. And be sure to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also join the fun on our WhatsApp Group Chat here – share your dilemmas and Diana and Alice may just give you a call. My values towards sex and relationships had developed through exposure to both Western openness and the respect-driven nature of my religious, South Asian upbringing. I had British friends who would have conversations with their mothers about starting contraception, while I faced grave trouble for kissing a boy on my 15th birthday. At school, I was bullied for parroting strict beliefs in sex education class, like not losing my virginity before 21. I never dared make such a proclamation again. One of the scenes Mum and I filmed for the show together involved her asking me whether I knew about threesomes, if I had friends who had tried anal sex, and if I had ever seen a porn movie before. I answered each with a dryly amused 'no'. The truth was, I had friends who had done these things, and this could have been a breakthrough moment for us. However, I could see how deeply my mother was struggling with the experience. Not only was she confronted with hordes of sex toys, but the blasé attitudes of porn directors and, eventually, a live porn set where she witnessed porn actors having sex, which caused one of the other mums to vomit. My mother came home dismayed. She started to have lengthy conversations with me about her inability to align her South Asian morals with what she was seeing. She was doing what I'd spent my whole life doing, navigating the differences in culture. I had learned to deal with it from a young age but I could sense her fear and sadness and that only evoked my compassion. Rather than wishing I could talk more to my mum about sex, I felt deeply sympathetic for her. I couldn't face upsetting her further by bringing the topic up again. Everything came to a head when my mother ultimately decided she couldn't align her values with producing a porn film and tearfully made the decision to drop out of the show. She faced backlash for this online. 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The Herald Scotland
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