Alberta Whittle’s Lagareh–The Last Born  – which comes back to Scotland fresh from the 2022 Venice Biennale – draws focus on anti-racist and pro-Black advocacy, and Scotland’s historic connections to Transatlantic slave trade

Premiere kicks off a six venue Scottish screening tour & ahead of major solo show at National Galleries of Scotland

Glasgow Film Theatre will host the UK premiere of internationally acclaimed Barbadian-Scottish artist Alberta Whittle’s new film, Lagareh – The Last Born, on Tuesday 20 September 2022 (18:00). Press and review tickets are available.

Fresh from its highly praised presentation as part of Whittle’s World Premiere exhibition of new work at this year’s Venice Biennale – one of the world’s most prestigious visual arts festivals – the film gives primacy to the strength of contemporary Black womxn in Europe, West Africa and the Caribbean. These interconnected geographies, which formed  ‘triangular route’ in the colonial era, are employed to reflect upon the traumatic legacies of chattel slavery, and its enduring impacts upon modern day policing and incarceration.

Commissioned by the Scotland+Venice partnership and Forma, LUX Scotland is touring the film to six venues across Scotland, with a programme of invited speakers at each location from September 2022 to March 2023, with support from Art Fund.

The Glasgow screening will be followed by a conversation between Alberta and Dr Peggy Brunache, lecturer in the history of Atlantic slavery at the University of Glasgow and Director of the newly established Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies.

Kitty Anderson, Director, LUX Scotland, said, “We are thrilled to be sharing Alberta’s work with audiences across Scotland, and to launch this tour in Glasgow where Alberta lives and works. The Scottish tour provides a wonderful opportunity to explore the key ideas in Alberta’s practice, and to extend the conversation to include the voices of some of her collaborators and others that have influenced her practice.”

The film is part of a wider body of work – deep dive (pause) uncoiling memory – currently being exhibited in Venice until November 2022 and featuring tapestry created in collaboration with Dovecot Studios and sculpture created in collaboration with Glasgow Sculpture Studios.  Join Alberta for a virtual tour of the show and an insight into her approach to the work in this video on the Scotland + Venice website.

National Galleries of Scotland will stage a major solo presentation of Alberta’s work in Spring 2023 which will explore her practice in depth, including works from the Venice exhibition.

Notes to Editors

1. Scottish Screening Tour

– Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow: Tuesday 20 September 2022
– Eden Court, Inverness: Thursday 27 October 2022
– Mareel, Shetland Arts, Lerwick: Sunday 27 November 2022
– TBC, Aberdeen: Wednesday 25 January 2023
– Broadford Village Hall in partnership with ATLAS Arts, Isle of Skye: Saturday 11 February 2023
– Ayr Town Hall in partnership with South Ayrshire Council Museums and Galleries: Wednesday 1 March 2023

Tickets for all screenings are free, with wheelchair accessible tickets available. The film is captioned, and all discussion will be live captioned. Full details and how to book can be accessed at LUX Scotland.

Image credit – Alberta Whittle, Lagareh – The Last Born, (film still – single channel video), 2022, Photographer Matthew Arthur Williams, © Alberta Whittle. Courtesy the artist, Scotland + Venice, and Forma.

2. Alberta Whittle

Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, Alberta Whittle, lives and works in Glasgow and has been based in Scotland since moving here to study firstly at Edinburgh College of Art and later on the Master of Fine Arts programme at The Glasgow School of Art. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh and Research Associate at The University of Johannesburg.  Alberta was awarded a Turner Bursary, the Frieze Artist Award and a Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award in 2020. She was the Margaret Tait Award winner for 2018/19. Her work has been acquired by major public collections including the National Galleries of Scotland, Glasgow Museums Collections and the Contemporary Art Research Collection at Edinburgh College of Art, as well as by other private collections.

Full information about Alberta’s work and that of the Scotland + Venice partnership can be found at the Scotland + Venice website

3. LUX Scotland

Find out more about Glasgow based LUX Scotland – the non-profit agency dedicated to supporting, developing and promoting artists’ moving image practices in Scotland.

4. Art Fund

Full information about Art Fund’s support to museums to acquire and share works of art across the UK, further the professional development of their curators, and inspire more people to visit and enjoy their public programmes can be accessed on the Art Fund website

5. Image description

A film still from ‘Lagareh – The Last Born’. We see a Black womxn wearing a white sweater, a multi-coloured kilt and white and black boots. She is standing in a grassy field: her shoulders are raised and holding two machetes. In the background, there is an eighteenth-century folly and a simple fence with timber posts and metal netting. The sky is blue and there are no clouds.

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