The Rafiki Gallery

Pop up Exhibition

3-4th October 2019

Apothecary

Lister Square

The Rafiki Gallery

The Rafiki Gallery

The Rafiki Gallery

Welcome to the very first exhibition

from The Rafiki Gallery.

Our aim is to promote and showcase an

eclectic selection of artists.

Every artist has an individual take on art,

leading to what I hope will be an exciting and

varied collection.

We hope to curate a show for buyers to

purchase affordable art, thus supporting the

development of these emerging artists.

Please do follow us on Instagram and keep an

eye open to see more of our exhibitions going

on around the city in the coming months.

Finally, thank you so much for coming along

and taking the time to see all of this, and us!

Vira Ratman

Through her cultural upbringing, Vira hopes to

create a dialogue between different visual elements of

‘East meets West’ through the use of organic and

inorganic shapes. This stems from her interest in

cultural assimilation and the concept of

Auto-Orientalism. Exploring the materiality of

painting as an art medium, she uses exposed linen

and oil paint to create a textural quality through her

muted tones.

She sources inspiration from images produced during

the colonial era, and how different ideas of the ‘exotic’

emerged by a fast-paced exchange of images, cultures

and technology. Vira hopes to expand this further

by not only painting, but creating installations that

utilizes language, cartography, produce

and handicraft.

Eri Griffin

A Japanese born illustrator based in Edinburgh, Eri’s

passion for drawing led her to working as a freelance

illustrator since 2007,with this being her first foray

into Fine Art.

‘I love to capture the essence of movement with

Indian ink. Most of my works are simple black and

white line drawings. This style was built naturally by

combining fast sketching techniques with a long

history of experience in traditional Japanese

calligraphy. I love the process of minimising lines to

create very simple shapes.’

Rachel Innes

‘I find myself drawn to the beautiful nature that

surrounds Scotland. As a native Welsh speaker,

heritage is of massive importance to me, and I believe

mankind’s heritage is nature and that we must look

after it. My artwork is symbolic of the path of

destruction humanity is currently on.

I warp unnatural manmade items found in landscapes

through a process of printmaking, into apocalyptic

landscapes.

The barren skyscraper cities the rollers leave on my

page are as empty of life as they are as empty of

details. Their haunting stature is a reminder and a

warning of what will be left if we continue to ignore

global warming.’

Aidan Stephen

‘My work is a constant study, the sky above, the land

beyond and the exploration of action through paint.

Within the moment of painting I am mostly

somewhere else other than the now.

Part of my purpose is cathartic and therapeutic and

part is the sheer joy of escape. The 70mm aspect ratio

is a framework and a suggestion of something beautiful

that is almost lost, as might be the landscapes within.

As frontiers disappear each panel holds some echo of

an imagined past or a potential future choice. The flat

horizons might signify the decisions we are all faced

with and the serendipity that leads us back to a famil-

iar moment in time and place.

If in doubt just paint. Somebody, somewhere is doing

the same.’

Pip Denham

‘I am an artist, in awe of this strange planet and like

many, I find myself at times struggling with (and

drawn to) the polarised nature in which humanity

expresses itself. I rarely have a particular medium in

mind. One work may require collaboration,

culminating in a piece of ‘Ceramic and Sound'.

Another may ask for a solitary approach, then

represented through ‘Photography and Word’. Each

concept dictates each exploration.

At present, Sculptural form is foremost in my

practice. I tend to have a philosophical approach to

art, in that my interests go beyond created form. I

see many of may works as a pictorial allegory. This

has led to a continued questioning of the ‘vessel’ as a

designed object containing the intangible, and as an

expression of humanity within varied cultures

throughout history ‘

Ruby Blunt

‘As both a painter and printmaker I use my practice as

an opportunity to reflect environmental concerns and

address humanities relationship with the natural

world.

I find inspiration in the sublime beauty of nature and

use my practice as a platform to highlight

environmental issues, whilst challenging society’s

efforts to secure resources for future generations.

My pieces begin from a single sound or photograph,

but develop through a personal vocabulary of mark

making before finding their final form. Initial research

sketches created within the natural space itself help me

create work that captures the effect of man’s impact on

nature, merged with my imagination. It’s important to

me, through the means of art, that my work encourages

people to rethink: reminding people to repair and re-

use, be creative and reinvent.’

Leo Sartain

The idea behind my paintings tend to draw from

home. Having grown up constantly moving around the

world, it has been an interesting focal point for me.

I am mostly drawn to larger scale, bright abstract

works, and my painting is a response to that. I tend to

have a canvas on the easel for some time, working into

it as it comes to me, it is a very cathartic process for

me.

The Rafiki Gallery is my project. It was my vision to

gather together a selection of artists whose styles I

love and work with them to further their appreciation

in the artworld.

From a desire to promote the arts, I have worked to

form a cohesive gallery ensemble whose exhibitions I

hope will offer people a chance to see and encourage

the collecting of art, at an affordable price.

MOONTHREAD

MOON THREAD is an Edinburgh based, inde-

pendent T-Shirt company, designing tees with dis-

tinctive line drawing illustrations that effortlessly

make your outfit that little bit more individual and

playful.

MOON THREAD make both short-sleeved and

long-sleeved tees with printed designs of my illus-

trations. There have been three lines of designs re-

leased since the inception of the company, with a

fourth line in progress.

‘I started building the company in April 2017,

when I designed a T-Shirt as a leaving present for

when one of my friends moved to Spain. I realised

that I had created a product that I wished to

share.’

Rafiki is the Swahili word for friend, and it is in this vein that we wish to approach all areas of our business.

Something that is key for us is the appreciation of the artists and allowing their personality to come through, rather than just artwork in a vacuum.

Through social media and physical exhibitions in a variety of venues we hope to showcase our artists and bring them to the forefront of the art world.

We want everyone to enjoy art, and so

are trying to make it as accessible as

possible, by placing the art into venues

that people enter everyday, it widens the

viewership and will help the art be

appreciated by all.