A themed mural is set to be painted at University of Aberdeen as part of a mission to create Scotland’s first Gaelic mural trail.
In an email inviting student input, the Students’ Union shared that its building has been suggested as a backdrop for the artwork.
The mural will be painted by Keiti Forbes, a Glasgow-based artist whose name means ‘beast from the forest’. Also known as KFRBS, the 29-year-old comes from Tain, a historic town in the Scottish Highlands. She studied architecture at Glasgow University and stayed on in the city to work as a creative.
The contemporary artist uses bold colours to paint eye-catching images on canvas and on buildings. Having hosted solo exhibitions and contributed to mural culture in Glasgow and internationally, the painter boasts an extensive CV, which also includes illustrating a driving theory colouring book.
With a Millennial-slash-Gen-Z wit, Keiti does not take herself too seriously. She signs off her emails with “Really Really Good Famous Artist” and proclaims her overarching artistic message as “being human is bizarre.”
Carola Maccallum is the University’s Gaelic Language Development Officer, overseeing plans to highlight the language on campus. She is “especially excited” for the murals which will “quite literally make Gaelic more visible on campus”.
Last week, the Gaelic officer facilitated an online video call between students and artist Keiti Forbes. Carola Maccallum shared: “It was great to see the enthusiasm of students attending the meeting and presenting thoughtful and creative ideas to Keiti. I very much look forward to seeing the finished mural.”
Speaking with The Gaudie, Keiti Forbes explained that Old Aberdeen campus is an important location to feature on the Gaelic mural trail which will connect places all across Scotland. She explained:
“As one of Scotland’s major cities, it was imperative to include it in the trail. I was putting the feelers out when I was contacted by the university’s Gaelic Language Development Officer. The Old Aberdeen campus will be the perfect location for the mural as it sees tens-of-thousands of students every year. High visibility equals high effectiveness.”
One student, however, wonders if a Doric theme would have been more appropriate for this part of Scotland. Oliver Kennedy, this newspaper’s co-Editor-in-Chief, argued that “it’s great that Gaelic culture in Aberdeen is being celebrated, but many students from the Northeast actively speak Doric and their dialect should also be celebrated.”
In contrast, students in the Celtic Society voiced their support for highlighting Gaelic in Aberdeen: “It is a myth that Gaelic was never spoken here in the Northeast – In reality, there is a rich history of Gaelic in Aberdeenshire from the Book of Deer which contains the oldest known written Gaelic in Scotland, to the Aberdeenshire dialect spoken until the 1980s, and the many notable Gaels who have attended and taught at our university.
“The Celtic Society’s recent focus has been strengthening connections between various Gaelic groups in Aberdeen and providing opportunities for our community to engage with the language and culture in creative ways – This mural will do just that!”
Like many Gaelic students at University of Aberdeen, Keiti did not grow up speaking the language:
“I was already painting murals when I decided to start learning Gaelic. I started learning Gaelic later in life because I wanted to speak to my Granny Annie in our mother tongue – she was from Stornoway and it was her first language – but she passed away before I had the chance. I was deeply saddened by this and, at the same time, suddenly very frustrated with myself for not knowing my own country’s language. At around this time, I was painting ‘Mo Chridhe’, a mural in the city centre of Glasgow, and I decided to include the translation and phonetic spelling to the piece. The response to this was massive and that’s what has sparked the idea for Scotland’s First Gaelic Mural Trail; a series of artworks that celebrate the uniqueness of each community while connecting them all with a shared mission – celebrating our Scottish culture. Every mural will include Gaelic language, translation AND phonetic spellings, so that even non-fluent speakers like me can learn how to say it. There’s a saying that I love; ‘Is fheàrr Gàidhlig bhriste na Gàidhlig anns a’ chiste’, which means ‘it’s better broken Gaelic than Gaelic in the coffin’!
The University nor its Students’ Union will need to pay the artist; Keiti Forbes will paint for free and apply for grants from funding bodies to pay herself a wage. She says:
“I consider this a win-win-win; I get to make art, communities benefit, and these funding bodies get to support a project that is wanted, needed and will be experienced by locals and visitors alike. There are a lot of smaller towns on the trail that don’t have access to the same funding pots that cities do, I think it would be unfair to leave them out on this basis so I’ve learnt how to mitigate this by becoming proficient in the world of funding. On top of this, I’ve secured sponsorship from paint company Farrow & Ball so the paint costs are covered.”
Keiti thinks the most important thing about this project is that locals feel ownership of their new murals:
“I want communities to be proud to be a part of the project. As Aberdeen’s mural will be at the University, I believe speaking with the students and hearing their thoughts would be a great way to start. For each location on the trail, I’ll be doing my own research into the specific area to help inform the design but I’m also very keen to get talking to the people. I find a lot of inspiration from connection.”
The Students’ Union have identified an indoor space for the mural, however students attending last week’s Microsoft Teams meeting were reportedly keen to find an appropriate outside space. Keiti Forbes plans to visit campus in January to meet with staff members from the University’s Estate team and find the perfect place for the mural. Keiti Forbes offered to run a workshop in spring to collect student input. If all goes to plan, the University’s new artwork will be complete in the summer.
The old Students’ Union building is home to its own murals which were abandoned in 2004 as the building closed and passed to the owners of Bon Accord shopping centre who do not utilise the space. Covered in the previous edition of The Gaudie, the Sivell Murals were once named the most significant artworks produced in 20th century Scotland, but they are currently inaccessible and at risk of dilapidation. Aberdeen alumni have been raising awareness for them in a bid to protect the historic art.