In Conversation: Art and Identity How does 'Scottishness' shape artist's creative practice?

Join a panel of contemporary artists as they discuss how national identity intersects with personal experiences and other cultural identities, and how these ideas are expressed through art today.

Our artists are Kenneth Dingwall, Cat Dunn, and Eoghann MacColl.

Kenneth Dingwall was born in Clackmannanshire and is an alumnus of Edinburgh College of Art and Athens School of Fine Art, where he studied during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The artist's works are often large-scale abstractions inspired by patterns seen in nature, such as those cast by sunlight. These ideas are explored through the psychological experience of surfaces and membranes, often painted in a limited range of colours.

Cat Dunn is a Barbadian-Scottish curator, researcher and artist. Underpinning all of Cat's projects is the pressing need to create dialogue about social identity. Her work, therefore, engages potentially divisive subjects such as colonialism, slavery, racism and feminism, with openness and clarity.

A Gaelic speaker, Eòghann MacColl is interested in the influence of migrating peoples across the North Atlantic and looks particularly at issues of identity, place and continuity of culture. He explored the contrasts and clear parallels of the Nordic regions of Shetland, Faroe and Iceland and their relationships to us in Scotland, the shared ancient histories and the modern economic differences and approach to emigration as a necessity.

This event is part of the From These Parts: Scotland, Art and Identity programme, accompanying the exhibition on view at the Wardlaw Museum from 18 October 2025 to 15 February 2026.

The programme explores the layered and evolving nature of Scottish identity through creativity, conversation and community. Rooted in the provocation Where are you from?, it invites participants to reflect on belonging, place and heritage while recognising how this question can carry both curiosity and harm. The programme challenges traditional notions of ‘Scottishness' and celebrates the diverse voices that shape Scotland's past, present and future.

This event will also be live streamed. Please click Join Online Event at the top of the page to register for online attendance.