White Ground, Black Water
2 August 2026 to 1 March 2027
White Ground, Black Water
2 August 2026 – 1 March 2027
White Ground, Black Water is a research-led exhibition curated by Dr Cat Dunn, examining Scotland’s role in Empire and its deep-rooted, often overlooked entanglements with the Caribbean.
The exhibition explores the complex legacies of displacement, racial capitalism and historical erasure that continue to shape both places today. It considers how Scotland’s participation in the transatlantic slave economy, plantation economies and the administration of Caribbean colonies has been marginalised within mainstream historical discourse.
Wealth generated through sugar plantations, enslavement and colonial administration flowed back into Scottish society, shaping universities, landholdings, estates, civic infrastructure and cultural institutions.
Featuring work by Dr. Alberta Whittle, Graham Fagen, Matthew Arthur Williams and Tilda Williams-Kelly, with creative writing by Harvey Dimond, the exhibition brings together video, performance, installation, photography, sculpture and writing. Across these different forms, the artists offer ways of seeing that disrupt official histories and invite more nuanced, embodied understandings of place, power and memory.
White Ground, Black Water asks how expanded historical understanding might reshape the way we think about land, belonging, identity and care today. It opens conversations about inheritance, responsibility, historical memory and repair, making space for more people to see themselves, and each other, within the story.
Artists
Dr. Alberta Whittle is a Barbadian-Scottish artist, researcher and curator whose work explores anti-colonial histories, care, belonging and Black subjectivity across film, sculpture, installation and performance. She represented Scotland and Venice at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 and has exhibited internationally, including at IMMA Dublin, ICA Philadelphia, ICA Los Angeles and Tate Britain. She lives and works in Glasgow.
Graham Fagen is a Scottish artist based in Glasgow whose multidisciplinary practice explores history, identity and Scotland’s relationship to the transatlantic slave trade. He represented Scotland at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 and has exhibited internationally, including at Tate Britain, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Galleries of Scotland. He is Professor of Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee.
Matthew Arthur Williams is a London-born, Glasgow-based artist, photographer and DJ whose practice combines photography, moving image and sound to explore memory, place and identity. Often working collaboratively, his work draws on archives and personal histories to examine themes of migration, belonging and the legacies of colonialism. He has exhibited widely across the UK and internationally, including at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow, Stills Centre for Photography and Viborg Kunsthal, Denmark.
Tilda Williams-Kelly is a Scottish painter and visual artist based in Stirling whose practice explores figure, landscape and environment through oil and mixed-media painting. Combining traditional painting techniques with abstraction, drawing and writing, her work examines observation, intimacy and our relationship with the natural world. She is a recipient of the Graham Laing Award for Excellence in Painting and Sculpture and was a Hospitalfield Graduate Resident (2023–24).
Press Release White Ground, Black Water
Programme of Events
The exhibition is accompanied by a public programme curated by Dr Cat Dunn, beginning with an anchor event designed to ground the research locally, centre community dialogue and build critical context ahead of the exhibition opening.
These events mark the beginning of a longer process of collective enquiry into land, memory, belonging and repair.
Further public programme details, including talks, workshops and community conversations, will be announced soon.
Access and Content Note
This exhibition addresses histories of slavery, colonial violence, displacement and racial injustice. Please speak to a member of the Timespan team if you would like further information before visiting.
