The Glasgow Enlightenment

By Greg Thomas, 12.04.2023

Rabiya Choudhry, ‘Give light and people will find the way (Ella Baker)’ 2022. Installation view Dennistoun Library, 2023. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Isobel Lutz-Smith.

Fife-born US industrialist Andrew Carnegie left his home country at 12, but his fortune funded a philanthropic building boom back in Scotland. The first of his endowed public libraries opened in his home city of Dunfermline in 1883, and within a few decades scores of so-called “Carnegie Libraries” were dotted across the country. Artist Rabiya Choudhry nods to this legacy with her new illuminated signage for three libraries in Glasgow’s east end (Shettleston and Dennistoun Public Libraries and Glasgow Women’s Library) which features the flaming torch motif, found on many of Carnegie's public buildings. However, the Glasgow-born artist twists the meaning of the symbol by encircling it with the words of US civil rights activist Ella Baker – “give light and people will find the way” – suggesting a model of civic education based on community cooperation rather than paternalistic handouts.

 

Choudhry is known for her paintings and sculptures in a playful, surreal style, often incorporating snippets of language and figurative doodles with a hint of Philip Guston or Robert Crumb. True to form, the beacon of light at the centre of her sign is adorned with a bathetic smiley face, like something from a 1980s TV advert, making it look more like an ice cream cone. The quote from Baker, however, subverts Carnegie’s philosophy in a different and more serious way, reflecting a strong sense of personal connection to Baker’s life and politics: “Her life, actions, and words are hugely inspiring,” Choudhry states, “and articulate what I wanted to echo in these public artworks for libraries at a time where light comes at some cost and hope is hard to put into words.”

The signs form part of Choudhry’s Lost Lighting project, a set of lighting-based artworks for public spaces. They are also the first instalment in the Common Guild’s project ‘anywhere in the universe,’ which celebrates and utilises public libraries. Between 21^st – 23^rd April Onyeka Igwe will present her play The Last Librarian in Glasgow at venues around the city, while a new exhibition by Kate Davis will open at Pollokshields Library on 20th May.

Works from 'anywhere in the universe' will be exhibited at libraries until 30th July