It’s been such a busy year in our work with community groups and under-represented audiences that we did not get a chance to properly update our blog! As we get ready for a new round of community displays, we thought it was time for a roundup of our past year.

GYG presents: Your Third Space, 21st August – 29th September 2024

In August 2024, we opened “Your Third Space”, co-created with the Goma Youth Group 2023/2024. A third space is a place that is not home or work, a place that is relaxed and where people can gather without expectations. Through this interactive display, the young people in the group wanted to show the outcomes of a series of public workshops that they held at GoMA over the summer. At the same time, the space was meant to provide a comfortable and free area in the city centre of Glasgow where young people could hang, make art, using the provided materials, read any of the books on display, and chat.

Our Power: Collectively Challenging Racist Microaggressions, 10 October 2024 – 12 January 2025

Our Power was a Mental Health Foundation project exploring, through art, the impact of racism and racist microaggressions on mental health. People with lived experience of racism have worked together at GoMA over a year where, guided by professional artists, they have created and then curated all the works in the exhibition. Through this project and its creative outputs, participants hoped to raise awareness of what microaggressions are, encourage societal change, and, with the power of kindness and community, heal.

“Experiencing racial discrimination or microaggressions can have a huge impact on a person’s mental and physical wellbeing. This art project and exhibition illustrates how art can help people unlearn misinformation and narrow ways of thinking, while allowing people to think creatively about eliminating or mitigating microaggression and racism.”

                                                                                                                         Our Power project participant

SAFETY. Exploring the experience of hearing voice and self-harm, 17 January – 20 April 2025

This exhibition was an exploration of safety, feeling safe, feeling unsafe, and the journey between the two. The artworks on display were completed at GoMA by members of Time and Space, a support service for people who hear voices and people who self-harm.

Workshops were led by the GoMA Learning Team, with the support of artists Miriam Ali, Abi Pirani, Didi Marina Salonia, and Garry Steven. The artists have supported the group in experimenting with photography, painting, creative writing, and zine making, to express their experiences through these mediums. The results of these workshops have been curated by the group in this exhibition.

If you or anyone you know are struggling, help is available. Call Samaritans on 116 123 or text SHOUT to 85258. For more information on Time and Space, contact info@timeandspace.org.uk  or call 07568358912.

Glasgow Secondary Schools Art Exhibition 2025

This was the third year of the Glasgow Schools’ Art Exhibition and second year of the partnership between GoMA and Glasgow CREATE (CReativity and Expressive Arts Transforming Education). Schools were asked to submit works inspired by this year’s celebration of Glasgow’s 850th anniversary. We exhibited works from S1-6 pupils across 13 Glasgow schools: Whitehill Secondary School, St Paul’s High School, St Mungo’s Academy, Springburn Academy, Lourdes Secondary School, Holyrood Secondary School, Hollybrook Academy, Govan High LCR, Glasgow Gaelic School, Eastbank Academy, Cardinal Winning Secondary School, Rosshall Academy and Hillhead High School.

We hope you enjoyed this quick summary – let us know your thoughts! And if you represent a community group and are interested in working with us, get in touch by emailing GoMABookings@glasgowlife.org.uk.