Hopeless Response to Coral Green and Viking Blue 2023

Hopeless Response to Coral Green and Viking Blue (January 2023) was developed as part of the MAFA Body of Work and took the form of an A1 photographic print composed from collaged images taken within the Dumbiedykes housing scheme in Edinburgh.

The work responded to the repainting of the tower blocks in Coral Green and Viking Blue, colours selected as part of an attempt to visually soften the estate and reduce its perceived impact on the surrounding landscape. Rather than addressing the social conditions of the site, this intervention prioritised surface appearance, prompting the work to question how visibility, neglect, and responsibility are managed through aesthetic decisions.

By collaging fragments of the built environment, the piece disrupted a singular view of the estate and instead presented Dumbiedykes as layered, fractured, and unresolved. The photographic process became a way of examining how image making can both document and distort urban narratives, reflecting on the gap between official representations of regeneration and the lived reality of the space.

Looking back, the work marked an important shift in my practice towards critically engaging with architecture, policy, and representation. It established an early interest in how visual language can be used to interrogate systems of power, an approach that continues to inform my current work across art, photography, and creative advertising.