Painting Scotland's Climate Story
Welcome!
The Portrayals: Painting Scotland’s Climate Story is a visual story telling project, using art to inspire and express what science alone cannot. This is a Scotland wide street art project, painting areas on the front line of climate change. Taking an unrelentingly positive approach to engage people’s minds, strengthen connections with the environment and inspire positive climate action.
In short… we’re painting murals all over Scotland to present an artistic vision of why climate action matters. Work began ahead of Glasgow hosting the UN Climate Change Summit COP 26 in November 2021, and continues today.
Project Vision
To portray what we love, what we could lose and what we take for granted. Presenting the negative narrative in a positive way, by looking at what we must save. This is not about the doom and gloom, it is a wonderfully ambitious, beautiful and uplifting artistic project, which can impact, assist and hasten our collective environmental efforts.
The project will be carbon sensitive, as we engage in practices to reduce our impact wherever possible.
Why Street Art & Community
Street art is the most accessible form of contemporary art, often influenced by political and social issues. It is shared obsessively on social media, attracts the mass media and so has great power. It changes landscapes and communities for the better, making it a perfect medium to inspire change in diverse communities across the country.
We’re engaging with these communities and discovering how climate change will affect them by getting the personal stories. What specific to Scotland will be lost? Every country will be able to relate to what could be regarded as a visual biography of Scotland’s climate issues and opportunities. What action can we all take? We want to enlighten and inspire people, and perhaps this could be the missing link for some to understanding and embracing the changes required.
Locations
We have locations across the Highlands and Islands, the cities of Scotland, and everywhere in between. Areas on the front line with a unique story to tell, where we don’t want to disrupt the environment, rather to integrate, to add beauty and meaning.
Have a Wall?
We’d like to invite you and the people you know to help us find new buildings/structures needed for future of the project. Do you own a building? Work for or know someone that does? Or just think you know the perfect location? Please get in touch.
The Portrayals Team & Artists
From the team behind artpistol Projects who have been bringing art to the streets of Scotland for over 10 years.
We’re working with a carefully selected lineup of Scotland’s top visual artists and the brightest emerging talent, all with amazing contributions to make to the project with their skills and vision. It is a diverse and very exciting line up, which we can’t wait to share.
Key Dates
Summer 2019
Project Born
November 2020
COP26 Postponed
October 2021
Painting Begins
November 2021
COP 26
> Future
We Continue…
Tell Your Climate Story...
We’re collaborating with some of the most environmentally forward thinking businesses and organisations in the country, representing many different sectors of the Scottish economy. In many cases tackling a climate opportunity close to their hearts.
As an ongoing artistic response to climate change, which doesn’t stop with COP26, we want to help tell more stories, in more places and if you’d like to be a part of The Portrayals story then it would be amazing to hear from you.
Quotes
Dr Martin Valenti Head of Climate Enterprise at Scottish Enterprise: “These spectacular images will be a bold statement about Scotland’s aspirations for promoting climate opportunity and for raising awareness of why we need to take a strong leadership role in driving to net-zero 2045. The true power of Scotland as illustrated beautifully in Glasgow is its people, so seeing these striking and inspiriting images not just in Glasgow but across Scotland will remind us of why we are tackling climate change and why all of Scotland is involved.”
Ali Smith from artpistol Projects: “We’ve been working on this for a long time now, so the delay due to Covid is no issue and in fact is only going to make the project even more epic. More time to consult communities, explore the environmental opportunities, fine tune logistics and really make the artworks something extraordinary. We can’t wait.”
Press
We’ve been on Radio Scotland to introduce and discuss the project and here is an article from The Scotsman. We’ve been deliberately low key in the press until we officially launch the project, but if you’d like to get involved and help promote the project or discuss anything then please get in touch.