Mull hosts Scotland’s newest arts festival
Scotland’s newest arts festival, Daughter of Cups in the North, takes over An Tobar Gallery and Mull Theatre from Friday April 29 to Sunday May 1.
Curated by artist Bobbi Cameron, the festival features performance, music, art, sound installation, dance and new writing.
Artists include award-winning choreographer Mele Broomes, Glasgow-based musician Quinie, Peruvian artist and writer Daniella Valz Gen, London-based artist, musician and multi-instrumentalist Hannah Catherine Jones - aka Foxy Moron - and international DJ, artist and cultural curator Sarra Wild.
A moving image programme will also screen works by 2021 Turner Prize nominee Evan Ifekoya, 2021 Jarman Award shortlisted artist Sophia Al Maria, British Art Show 9 featured artist Grace Ndiritu and internationally acclaimed artist Linda Stupart.
The festival’s invited artists are all working with and expanding on themes of ancestry, pushing the boundaries of what it means to inhabit space, connecting with spirits and breaking down barriers between worlds. Taking its title from the Tarot card of the same name, Daughter of Cups in the North speaks of creativity, new possibilities, ancestry and psychic intuition.
Developed as part of artist Bobbi Cameron’s residency at An Tobar, the festival will also include a new sound installation by the artist entitled Without Time, Without Distance, Without Mind. Exploring spirituality and ancestry through working with reiki energy, Cameron has created a method of opening
up passages to the future as well as caring for moments of the past.
Mele Broomes will premiere a live performance of her digital work Wrapped Up in This which was first shown as part of the Take Me Somewhere Festival 2021.
Peruvian poet, artist and card reader Daniella Valz Gen will showcase material compositions derived from contemplations of inner and outer landscapes.
Speaking ahead of the festival, Bobbi Cameron said: ‘This festival has been launched and grown out of my residency with An Tobar Gallery.
‘Coming out of the pandemic, I wanted to invite other artists to share this space and this platform with me, artists who inspire and challenge my art practice, whose work has had the power to move me and to haunt me in the most brilliant ways. The festival presents artworks in the forms of films, sound installations, sculptures, music, performance and dance. There are works that offer you the space to listen deeply.
‘There are movement works that explore journeys of rebirth.
‘There are sounds that offer spaces of healing, sculptures that offer spaces of grounding and songs that open channels to Scottish ancestry.’
Artistic director of An Tobar and Mull Theatre Rebecca Atkinson-Lord said: ‘We’re delighted to support Bobbi Cameron’s vision for the An Tobar Festival.
‘We’re excited to host such a diverse programme of artists for what promises to be one of the cultural highlights not just in Mull but the wider Scottish festival calendar.’