AfroCaledonia opens in Glasgow with an evening celebrating Black history and culture through the work of Black-Scottish creatives.
Hosted at The Alchemy Experiment on Byres Road, the launch offers visitors the first opportunity to experience an exhibition built around art, identity and the experiences of Black people living and creating in Scotland.
The title itself brings together two identities that have sometimes been treated separately.
“Afro” connects the exhibition to African and African-diasporic heritage, while “Caledonia” places those experiences firmly within Scotland.
That combination matters.
Black Scottish history is part of Scottish history, stretching from Scotland’s connections to slavery and empire to generations of African, Caribbean and mixed-heritage people who have made homes, careers, families and creative communities across the country.
Contemporary artists provide another way of recording that history.
Painting, photography, design and other visual forms can explore identity in ways that conventional historical documents cannot, particularly when artists are reflecting upon their own experiences of belonging, race and culture.
The exhibition launch places Black-Scottish creatives themselves at the centre of that conversation rather than treating Black experience as something observed from the outside.
This opening night is designed as a celebration as well as an exhibition preview, providing an opportunity to see the artwork, meet people connected with the project and experience a contemporary expression of Black Scottish culture.
For Black History Month, AfroCaledonia is particularly valuable because it brings the story close to home.
Rather than concentrating exclusively on Black history elsewhere in Britain or overseas, it asks what Black identity and creativity look like in Scotland today.
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