Outlines Creative C.I.C.

A workshop with Strathdon Primary, responding to the graffiti tags left in a historic mill.

When we first spoke to Georgina from the Strathdon Graffiti project we were so excited to be bringing two really cool topics together – local history and graffiti!

Georgina’s friend Anni had uncovered pencil graffiti on the wood panelling in her new home, a former mill in Strathdon. She wanted to preserve and honour this discovery with art sessions in the local primary school, and enlisted Georgina to help.

We were very excited to be involved. We joined the school for an afternoon, and listened to Anni talk to the pupils about the history of the mill and the connection between the writing from over 100 years ago, and modern ways to claim space. This was very much up our street as we spoke to the pupils about how they use stickers and posters to decorate their bedrooms, backpacks, jotters, and more!

For the workshop we asked the pupils to make stickers and posters inspired by what they would like someone to know about their lives 100 years from now, like an artistic time capsule.

The original Strathdon graffiti had included songs, poems, stories, drawings, and sketches of people, so the pupils were inspired to include their favourite song lyrics, hobbies, and jokes.

But we weren’t just there for fun – we had the serious business of the exhibition to see to.

The pupils were asked to submit their designs to be included in Anni’s exhibition, which took place on the 8th November and shared images of the woodwork, transcriptions of the poems and messages, and a display of the pupil’s work.

This was a really nice showcase of the project, connecting between modern day Strathdon and the lives of itinerant workers in the area over many generations ago.

We were very pleased to be part of this story, and can’t wait to see if the next chapter!