Over the past five months, with minimum fanfare or explanation, extraordinary portraits of women have been appearing in large format across Ocean Outdoor’s city centre and roadside network of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) screens in Glasgow.
Each of the 15 women featured has a powerful story to tell – stories about immigration, multiculturalism, of building new lives in Glasgow. About the role of women in modern day society. Stories that matter now more than ever.
The photorealism oil on canvas works are by the contemporary Scottish artist Gerard M Burns who has drawn together the women into a single exhibition because he “wanted to tell the stories of the women shaping Glasgow today.”
Gerard’s work will continue to appear across Ocean screens until International Women’s Day this Sunday (8th March) when a gallery exhibition, called Mother Glasgow, also the name of the city’s unofficial anthem popularised by Hue and Cry, opens at The Glasgow Collective on East Campbell Street.
The participating women are drawn from all walks of life – business, the arts, healthcare, hospitality, politics, faith, charity, engineering, science and media. All of them represent strength, identity, resilience, creativity and the heart and soul of Glasgow.
Marc Keenan, managing director, Ocean Scotland, said: “This project highlights the stories and spirit of the women who define our great city. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate these role models and Gerard’s paintings than across our estate. This is the Art of Outdoor at its very best. I encourage everyone to visit the exhibition.”
The women include:
- Violinist Maya Iwabuci /Japanese, musician and leader of the Royal National Scottish Orchestra since 2011.
- Claire Souet /French, a dancer with Scottish Ballet who came to Scotland 13 years ago.
- Gina Euseibi/Italian, the 87-yearold food entrepreneur is mother of Giovanna Euseibi of Euseibi’s restaurant
- Ranjit Kaur/punjabi Indian who owns and runs the family business Ranjit’s Kitchen
- Juliet Isioma Ojeogwy/Nigerian who moved to Glasgow three years ago to work as a nurse.
- Samira Cheragi/Iranian who moved to Glasgow in 2021 and has followed an impressive path. She holds a a master’s in industrial engineering and previously worked as an engineer in Iran.
- Miss Xiang Li /Chinese – after working for universities and international partnerships in England and Scotland, she joined Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, helping to build lasting connections between Scotland and China.
- Sister Rita Dawson MBE /Irish, a Catholic nun who runs St Margaret of Scotland Hospice in Clydebank
- Syeda Sadaf Zaidi/Pakistan, the artist and art activist
- Abby Body/Alaskan who works with the Beatson charity and has had to overcome incredible physical hurdles in her life.
- Lorraine Herbison Hollinshead/Northern Ireland, the broadcaster and journalist who has spent 25 years at Clyde 1
- Silvia Gordillo Abello/Spanish, the owner of ‘Vamos’ a language school based in Glasow which currently has more than 250 students.
- Professor Tuleen Boutaleb, who came to Glasgow from Algeria, is Vice Dean of the school of science and engineering at Glasgow Caledonian University
