On Saturday 2 February the Scottish Civic Trust, Scotland’s Urban Past, and LGBT Health & Wellbeing co-hosted Queering the Map of Our City, a workshop to explore LGBT+ places, spaces, and stories of Edinburgh.
The workshop was held in Edinburgh’s City Art Centre on Market Street. There were lovely, sunny views across Waverley Station towards New Town, which seemed an ideal location for a mapping exercise.
The day started with readings from oral histories collected by Our Story Scotland. Next everyone started thinking about the spaces, places, and stories that were significant to them, drawing and pinning information on maps of Edinburgh.
At the end of the day there was a group discussion where everyone reflected on what they had heard, seen, and contributed. Then artist, Holly Summerson created a digital version of the map, as well as a printable PDF-version.
The maps are part of the Past Forward – Stories of Urban Scotland exhibition, which you can see now and throughout the summer at these locations:
4-31 May at Summerhall (Edinburgh)
4-18 June at Wasp Studios, Inverness Creative Academy (Inverness)
29 June – 27 July at the Scottish Storytelling Centre (Edinburgh)
2-26 August at Wasp Studios, South Block (Glasgow)