East Ayrshire Leisure are offering a vision of the future created by young artists in the Billy Enigma: Capturing Cumnock exhibition which will be on display at the Baird Institute until Saturday, May 6.
A National Galleries of Scotland Outreach Project in East Ayrshire, 2021 – 2022. The artworks in this exhibition offer hope for the future in the aftermath of Covid-19, as imagined by students from the Robert Burns Academy in Cumnock.
These young artists have created a new vision for East Ayrshire, by inventing a modern urban myth of optimism and renewal.
A beloved, alien, space bunny, ‘Billy Enigma’, has crash-landed into the Barony A-Frame. Billy becomes a figurehead, spreading a message of self-acceptance and positivity
The young people have also reimagined local heroes and monuments such as Robert Burns, Kier Hardie, the Barony A-Frame and Cumnock Cross. They offer the invitation: ‘Welcome to Billy’s Town’.
For more information about the exhibition visit eastayrshireleisure.com.
The project also links the past to the present, inspired by remarkable photos portraying the lives of Scottish miners in 1982, by American photographer, Milton Rogovin.
These photos, from the National Galleries of Scotland's collection, have led the young people to examine how the area’s history has been represented and what is happening today.
Their own artworks will, hopefully, also give them a voice in shaping this regeneration.
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