Neglect of notable capital women laid bare

A new exhibition created in the heart of the Royal Mile created to showcase Edinburgh’s world heritage site has raised the absence of women in the city’s vast array of statues and monuments.

A short film, High and Mighty, made for a new visitor centre and tourist attraction at the Tron Kirk, features a series of young people questioning Edinburgh’s legacy of

largely honouring white men over the centuries.

The exhibition, which admits the city’s past involvement in the slave trade and the number of women wrongly accused of witchcraft, has been created to coincide with the centre’s reopening after of a multi-million pound revamp.

Its displays, said to have been created to prompt “open and honest discussions”, highlight mounting concern about the decline of historic buildings and the quality of life of local residents due to the impact of pollution, new developments and online shopping.

Alicia Bruce, a photographer who documented the impact of Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf course, has created new portraits of people in modern-day Edinburgh for the Tron Kirk exhibition.

The section on the city’s statues describes how they highlight many of Scotland’s most influential figures, but are believed by some to offer an “incomplete and outdated version of the past”.

In the short film, five young people give their own verdicts on the imbalance.

Kit Guy, 20, states: “We feel no connection to the statues because, for the most part, we do not know why they are there. Though we are far below them physically we are also far ahead of them in terms of society’s values.”

Murid Laly, 20, states: “Look up to let a white man look down on you.”