This project is a love letter to Leith.
Coming together with the people, businesses and the community to encapsulate Leith as it stands the now.
I grew up playing on these streets as many folk did, and they’re changing. It feels rapid and even scary sometimes.
People and places have been disappearing.
Gentrification has taken its grip and many of the folk that have grown here nae longer feel welcome, nae longer can afford to stay. They’re tearing down buildings, raising rents and the gentry are moving in to enjoy the fruits of Leith’s big heart.It’s not all bad of course, the changes we’re seeing have brought a few good things for some folk - more business, less crime.
This project brings many different perspectives and experiences thegether through music, photography, documentary and storytelling.
I was cycling through Pilrig Park in spring last year towards the Walk. As I pedalled past a spot I had passed a hundred times before, I suddenly saw it in a different light. When I was young, I’d offen see the bodies of drug users resting in the dirt beneath the trees wi spoons, foil and bottles of methadone surrounding them. This time, in the spring, I only saw the imprint left by bodies pressed into the patches of Bluebells.
The debris left behind them hidden under droplets of deep violet and blue, and I thought “What a Beautiful Place to Fall Over”