Boyle, Tiffany (2015) AfroScots: Tracing the Presence of Black Artists in Scotland from the 1800s Onwards. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London.
12-month period of archival and collection study, funded with a Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art research support grant.
The remit of the research project - titled ‘AfroScots: Tracing the Presence of Black Artists in Scotland from the 1800s Onwards’ - has been to compile into a single narrative for the first time the history of Black artists in Scotland, who have lived, worked, researched, studied and exhibited across the country.
In terms of methodology, the funds provided by the PMC were given to facilitate archival and collection research, both in Scotland and beyond. These archives have included those pertaining to the activity of individual practitioners, small organisations, educational institutions and government bodies. Archives visited over the course of the research grant have included – as a cross section – the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh; the National Records of Scotland; the Richard Demarco and New 57 Gallery archives at the National Galleries of Scotland; Glasgow Museums Resource Centre; the Mitchell Library, Glasgow; the National Library of Scotland; the George Padmore Institute; Transmission Gallery Glasgow; the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow; Stills: Scotland’s Centre for Photography; and the estates of two artists.