Delineate
River Esk in Midlothian, Research Image by Tiffany Boyle
'Delineate’ is an artist book project, produced via a three-way partnership between Natalia Palombo (Many Studios), Kayus Bankole, and Tiffany Boyle (Mother Tongue).
‘Delineate’ brings together texts, visual responses and poetry from writers, artists, curators, exploring the links between colonial-era cotton, linen, jute and paper trade in/through/via Scotland. Rather than separate histories with divided geographies, ‘Delineate’ seeks to make connections across materials, timelines and places otherwise often seen as unrelated, despite having Scotland as a common denominator. Across these contributions are shared queries, protests, returns to particular historical moments and visual strategies: from archival research and the use of collage or cut-and-mix, to family explorations across generations, looking to moments of radical industrialisation historically as a key turning point.
The book features work from Alberta Whittle, Cassie Ejezi, Chizu Anucha, Daisy Desrosiers, Irineu Destourelles, Swapnaa Tamhane, Tabita Rezaire/Olaniyi Studio, Tanatsei Gambura.
Curated and edited by
Natalia Palombo
Kayus Bankole
Tiffany Boyle
The project is funded by Edinburgh City Council; The National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Fluxus, Canada House, and Hope Scott Trust.
ArtworkChizu Anucha
i laugh because i know they cannot kill me
i laugh because i know they cannot kill me aims to subvert epistemic violence, white supremacist oppression, and austerity against people of African descent. The film’s focus on the means of production aligns with the central theme of this book, which interrogates the Atlantic’s history of paper, linen and cotton trade, upon the very material around which it centres.
The film journeys from Mozambique to Detroit, to Guyana and Lagos before returning to Edinburgh; interrogating a history of the global means of production by centring the Black workers that it relies on. The work acts as a reminder that the struggle of an oppressed person is not an isolated one, that the framework of oppressive power structures exist by design, and that there is a common cause with exploited and oppressed people both within one’s immediate surroundings and throughout the world.
‘I Laugh Because I Know They Cannot Kill Me’ borrows from a number of works, including: ‘Finally Got The News’ – a collective documentary of the struggles of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit; ‘Kuxa Kanema: O Nascimento do Cinema’ - a film which documents the anti-racist, revolutionary cinema initiative led by former President of Mozambique, Samora Machel; and, ‘The Terror and the Time: Notes on Repressive Violence in Guyana’.
Chizu Anucha, i laugh because i know they cannot kill me, video with sound, 23 minutes, 2023.
About the editors
Kayus Bankole is a member of the Edinburgh hip-hop trio Young Fathers, winners of the 2014 Mercury Music prize and two Scottish Album of the Year Awards, alongside Alloysious Massaquoi and Graham ‘G’ Hastings. Signed to label Ninja Tune, six of their tracks featured on the T2 Trainspotting score, also appearing on the FIFA2019 soundtrack. They have released three studio albums: Dead (2014), White Men Are Black Men Too (2015), and Cocoa Sugar, 2018. In 2017, Young Fathers were commissioned by the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Portrait Gallery, London to respond to the Van Eyck touring exhibition ‘Looking Good,’ and in 2020, Bankole produced the work ‘Sugar for Your Tea’ projected onto Edinburgh City Chambers as part of this year’s edition of Message from the Skies.
Natalia Palombo is a curator and director based in Scotland, working internationally. Over the last 15 years, Natalia has led reputable, inspiring and place-responsive arts organisations in Scotland, and produced high quality programmes across the UK and internationally that address urgent social, cultural and political issues. Natalia is a Founding Director of Many Studios, a creative organisation in Glasgow, where she also developed an international project space, The Gallow Gate. Between 2021-2024, Natalia directed Deveron Projects, a pioneering socially engaged art organisation in Huntly, Scotland In 2024, after leading an exciting re-model for Deveron Projects, she stepped down from her role to work independently between Scotland and Italy. She is currently Interim Head of Programmes at Artists Now (formerly a-n - The Artists Information Company).
Mother Tongue is a curatorial duo formed by ECA-graduate Tiffany Boyle and Jessica Carden in 2009. They have since collaboratively produced exhibitions, film programmes, discursive events and texts, most recently curating the 2019/2020 exhibition ‘Transparency: Alberta Whittle and Hardeep Pandhal’ at Edinburgh Printmakers. Their research-led projects explore representation, migration, post-colonialism, and diversity in the arts, and they have worked with organisations including the National Galleries of Scotland and Stills: Scotland’s Centre for Photography, Art Fund, MAP magazine, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, GoMA Glasgow, British Council, and the Hauser & Wirth Institute New York. Tiffany Boyle has lectured at The Glasgow School of Art since 2016 and is based in the Department for Design History & Theory.
Delineate is available at Good Press (Glasgow, UK) and directly through Many Studios. To purchase a copy directly, please email us below with the following details, and we will send a direct pay link:
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