EDINBURGH.- These four exhibitions are concerned with how we remember those who have gone before us. They channel the strength of family, friends and communities to help recover those lost, erased or excluded: powerful guides for how we might recover the subtle, sometimes beautiful and everyday aspects of being. 

Each artist has had to find a way to navigate the past. They work to overcome the stereotyping of their communities and the way they have been portrayed as “other”. They trace the invisibility of those cast out from society, or the simple absence of people in archives and written histories. This goes hand-in-hand with their need to draw strength from previous generations, ancestors and even non-human entities: to become fully present, to find the right words and the courage to become agents for positive change. The dead don’t go until we do shows how the labours, lives and loves of those who have gone before can enable the resilience of those living today.

Małgorzata Mirga-Tas creates large fabric images from the clothes of her Roma family and community, to redress hundreds of years of persecution and celebrate moments of everyday joy – holding close the strength of Roma women, past and present. Her work Out of Egypt confronts the foundational stereotypes imposed on Roma people in Europe, reflecting the historical research that underpins a collective practice of repair. We won’t stay silent any longer gives a community the power to shape the images of its own history, through respect, care and love.

Amol K Patil’s practice is guided by his grandfather and father, who used their poetry and playwriting to challenge British colonial rule, protest the caste system and give voice to those who are assigned by birth to profound poverty. Patil’s new installation will evoke the subterranean darkness of the sewers, mines or dirt that surround a life of obscurity. Who is Invited to the City? poetically traces those who moved to the city of Mumbai with a dream of a better life, only to become outcasts.

Kang Seung Lee turns invisibility into a radical space for recollection, often emphasising what is missing from archives or historical narratives. Erasure held like a fierce lantern will pay homage to queer artists and sites that hold collective memory, including works linked to Edinburgh’s history. The exhibition will also include a group of graphite drawings after Peter Hujar and Alvin Baltrop, photographers widely recognised for their black-and-white portraits of queer life and subcultures. It is a homage to the legacy of those whose creative labours and lives created possibilities for future generations.

MADEYOULOOK seek a de-colonial relationship to the land, counter-mapping the places once dwelt in by the Bakoni people in the north of South Africa. They listen intently to the landscape, ecology and language shaped by ancient earthworks, and share songs forged by generations of protest. Mafolofolo’s space for contemplation is centred on principles of black love and everyday black life, holding together fragments of oral and colonial histories to allow alternative ideas of the land to emerge. With an additional text-based project and reading space, their sound installation affords a deep dive into contemporary questions about the land.  

Subtle threads weave in and out of these exhibitions, not in a morbid reflection of death but in the defiant act of recalling people with joy, solidarity and care. The title is derived from Scottish poet Jackie Kay’s poem Darling, a tribute to a friend who passed away. It begins by talking about how quickly we might forget subtle details of someone’s being, but ends by stating:  

[…] what I didn't know or couldn't say then 
was that she hadn't really gone. 
The dead don't go till you do, loved ones. 
The dead are still here holding our hands. 

Curated by James Clegg.