Art Walk Porty — Aimee Labourne

I’m very excited to be taking part in this year’s Art Walk Porty Festival, at Edinburgh’s seaside area of Portobello!

Each September, a two-week event of contemporary art is organised, developed around a different unifying theme. A diverse programme of public-realm events showcases creativity and community, including exhibitions, site specific art in public places, participatory arts, art in local shops, walking activities, and open studios. This year, the theme is coastal ecologies and the global climate crisis, and brings together art, science and ecology.

At Two Sisters gift shop, I am exhibiting a series of small works on paper about the degradation of peatland here in Shetland, in response to the current construction of the new onshore windfarm. During 2020, invasive groundwork started across a vast area of Shetland’s wilderness landscape. New roads were laid to allow machinery to access the land and rip out huge chucks of peatland, to be filled with concrete for wind-turbine bases. Peatland is an important carbon-store and so disturbing this precious ecosystem not only destroys a biodiverse habitat, it also actively releases CO2. Areas of peatland are natural systems - damage not only affects particular parts, but accelerates the degradation of the whole structure.
These works investigate the land-surface of peatland using Indian ink on Japanese paper. Intricate networks of lochs and burns run through the blanket bog, creating interesting lines and patterns. I aim to present snapshots of this fragile and disappearing peatland environment.

Thank you Art Walk Porty for basing the festival around these important themes, and thank you for including my work.

The main festival runs from 1st to 11st September, but Art in Shops will run to the 30th September. Two Sisters in open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

Find out more about Art Walk Porty at their website.