Tobacco Flower is a major body of new work by Jimmy Robert, made especially for Glasgow International. The project extends the formal and thematic concerns of his recent work in performance, focusing in particular on relationships between Europe and the Caribbean.

Taking tobacco flower textile designs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh as a key point of departure, Robert explores multiple traces left by Glasgow’s role within colonialism. Robert handles such contested material through subtle means and with careful attention to difference and specificity. The work is as concerned with intimate experience as it is with political contexts. Working across several mediums, including film, photography and sound, Robert engages directly with The Hunterian and its historical collections in order to examine the cultural framing of identities and desires.

Supported by Glasgow International