Buoyancy in Unprecedented Times

Jenny Pope connects early innovations in maritime travel with today’s climate crisis in order to address questions of collective anxiety and resilience. The focal point is a hand-built ‘lifeboat’, a sculptural object influenced by coracles – small, rounded vessels used for millennia in Scotland, Wales and Ireland as well as in India, Iraq, Tibet and Vietnam.

Made from bent plywood strips and lined with clothing donated by local Portobello residents, the vessel evokes the possibility of navigating hope in uncertain times. The work encourages conversations around the climate emergency and coastal communities’ complex connections with the sea. Following a series of workshops, in which participants created a common ‘survival kit’, the art project culminated with a watery celebration event, launching the vessel with swimmers, rowers, singing and poetry. This art project was part of the Creative Scotland funded Vessel Residency for Art Walk Porty 2023 and the film was commissioned by Art Walk Projects and made by Rachel McBrinn.

Jenny Pope: "I am an Edinburgh based artist, with a BA in Ceramics and an MA in Sculpture from Edinburgh College of Art. I make thoughtful, playful responses to contemporary issues enabling audiences to engage constructively with their emotions, creating space for reflection and positive changes. I use the materiality of sculptures and found, recycled objects to focus my practice in the direction of making a difference to the climate crisis. I am intrigued by the physicality of materials, making processes and the meaning of objects, experimenting with their limits and using the analogy of weathering of objects to suggest the uncertainty and changes we all face as human beings."

This exhibition is free.  Opening times are 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, and 12-5pm Sunday.  Exhibitions will temporarily close during services.