Disability Arts Online Associate Artist Ellen Renton has been working in partnership with the Edwin Morgan Trust to develop this exhibition which shows at Agitate Gallery.

An audio guide leads its listener through a series of images. A character in itself – the guide takes on the role of an unreliable narrator with a shifting tone: at times direct, at points abstractly poetic, and sometimes reflective. These inconsistencies and fluctuations in approach conjure up questions around the ways in which our eyes and our minds often sit at odds with each other – does the audio match up with what our own vision makes of the photographs? How many ways can an image be read? Is seeing really believing or is the old adage flawed?

This exhibition is the culmination of a research project undertaken with the support of an artist associateship from Disability Arts Online and the Edwin Morgan Trust.

The work uses as its starting point inspiration taken from Morgan’s instamatic style – the technique of writing poetry about images, both real and imagined – and combines this with ruminations on the art of photography from a visually impaired perspective, cultural understandings of sight, and the lived experience of the failings of unhelpful image description.

Together, the images and text pose the question: what does ‘seeing’ really mean?

Please note: we kindly request that if you have access to a smart phone and a set of headphones, you bring these with you to the exhibition to access the audio guide via QR code. Spare listening devices and headphones can be provided for those unable to do so.

Image Caption

© Ellen Renton

Opening Event

Wednesday 17th May (timed sessions)

Location
Table
  • Venue

    Agitate

  • Address

    20 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh EH12 5JZ, UK

  • Website