Over the past 4 months selected artists have been paired with three Highland community groups. Through ‘NOTICE’ Circus Artspace are tracking the shifting demographic of the Highlands and focusing on the hidden, forgotten and unheard voices within our communities. The outcomes from this project are a series of three visual interventions which will respond to the theme of ‘Celebrating the Cultures and Identities of our Place’, installed on billboard sites across Inverness city centre. This project has been made possible through funding from Creative Scotland.

 

The selected partnerships are:

 

Formed in 2018 ¡P/HONK! are a multidisciplinary collaboration between artists Lotte Fisher and Henri Eagle-Wilsher. Initially a trumpet band, they have branched out into interactive performance, podcasting, wearable sculptures and more. They have created physical work in-situ in Glasgow and Montreal, as well as digital, internet-based work. ¡P/HONK! put a heavy emphasis on silliness and humour. They enjoy the challenge of bringing people out of their shells and create environments where people feel comfortable to be themselves and have fun with one another.

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¡P/HONK! were paired with Special Needs Action Project (SNAP) - an organisation which exists to improve the lives of young people with additional needs by providing social experiences, building self-esteem, and encouraging independence. They provide opportunities for making friends and socialising supported by our caring and experienced staff and volunteer team. 

Artist Frieda Ford graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2020. She specialises in film, socially engaged work, and digital collage with an emphasis on green screening and manipulation of found footage and audio. Drawing on a tendency of myth making to appear as a piecing together of archaic ideas with the contemporary, she creates purposefully cliched, iconographic imagery combined with contemporary cultural signifiers of popular culture. She explores queer and feminist theory with an emphasis on accepted heteronormative and patriarchal narratives that dominate contemporary western society.

 

Frieda was paired with Highland Pride - who preserve and protect the mental and physical health and social welfare of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ+) people in the Highlands & Islands. They also aim to promote fair and equal treatment for LGBTQ+ people by challenging the stigma and discrimination experienced by them at both community and personal level. 
 

Highland based artist Jacqueline Briggs graduate from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in 2016. Her work always looks to environment, culture and people as sources of inspiration and a means to explore elements of her own contrasting heritage. Jacqueline created the Scottish Black Lives Matter Mural Trail installation at Eden Court in Inverness alongside local BLM banners of support, and we are delighted to have her within our current Graduate Associates programme.

 

Jacqueline was paired with Highland Migrant & Refugee Action (HiMRA) who empower and bring together people who identify as migrants and refugees, to strengthen community integration and social inclusion in the Highlands. Building on the findings from Birchwood Highland's 'Migrant Matters' research, the project seeks to fulfil the need for supports to be enduring, community based and community led.

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Scan the QR code on each billboard or click on the icons below for more information: