Following its world debut in Venice in 2017, Rachel Maclean’s Spite Your Face returns to Scotland at Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh for its UK premiere from 24 February – 5 May 2018.

Referencing the Italian folk-tale The Adventures of Pinocchio, Maclean’s new commission offers a powerful critique of contemporary society, critiquing the underlying fears and desires that characterise the zeitgeist we find ourselves in today. Spite Your Face is a tale across two worlds – with a bright, glittering and ordered upper world, and a warped, dirty, impoverished lower world – where the lure of wealth, power and adoration entices a destitute young boy into the shimmering riches of the kingdom above.

Spite Your Face was commissioned by Alchemy Film and Arts, in partnership with Talbot Rice Gallery and the University of Edinburgh.

Scotland + Venice is a partnership between Creative Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland and the British Council Scotland.