A curated selection of Soo Burnell’s ‘I am Home’ exhibition at the new ‘the hoxton’ Edinburgh.
The exhibition is open to the public as soon as the hotel opens its doors for the first time (very soon), but a formal opening night with drinks will be announced for mid July. We will let you know when!
Artist Soo Burnell’s photographic collection is a love letter to Edinburgh, the city she grew up in, and the city she still calls home. As she says: “I wanted to capture an Edinburgh that locals would know; the familiar places that perhaps people have forgotten about.”
I am home guides us on a tour of the city, but this isn’t the city of tour guides. Instead, Soo turns her eye to the lesser known corners: from Gayfield Square in the Georgian New Town, captured in dappled sunlight, to Cockburn Street and The Milkman, a location that seamlessly blends old with new; and from The Grange Club in the heart of Stockbridge, photographed below soft grey skies, to the Art Deco façade of Murrayfield Ice Rink with its colour-pop detailing.
Soo offers us new perspectives of buildings we might know, from the epic scale of the light-filled Great Hall in the National Museum of Scotland to the jewel hues of the elaborate murals within the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Familiar places, but viewed through Soo’s very particular eye where she illuminates the symmetry of each space and the sense of calm this brings.
This collection draws inspiration from art and cultural references both past and present, including the works of the surreal artist René Magritte, the 1975 film The Stepford Wives, and contemporary dramas Mad Men, The Queen’s Gambit and Severance. Soo weaves theses visual references into her own distinctive aesthetic.
Soo’s photography always has a sense of mystery. We, the viewer, exist on the outside, being drawn into this mesmerising parallel world that Soo has created.
“Edinburgh is known for its dark grey, rainy-reflection photography,” Soo observes. “I wanted to take a new angle, showing a more colourful, quirky and whimsical side. In part, this collection is a continuation of my poolside series in the stylistic approach and the mood, but ‘I am home’ has its own identity. These are places from my childhood. In my mind, I wanted to construct this quite old-fashioned formality in these scenes. The people are characters in a story. I wanted to bring these forgotten moments to life.”