In line with his interest in contextual influences between individuals and communities, Fagen created these silkscreen prints in response to an unwelcome discovery about Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. In his early life, Burns had booked passages to Jamaica on three ships, which he never boarded, The Bell, The Nancy, and The Roselle, contemplating becoming an overseer of slaves on a sugar plantation. Angered by such a significant omission of Scotland’s involvement with slavery, Fagen made the history known through his prints.

Graham Fagen, b. 1966

Fagen studied Sculpture at Glasgow School of Art, and has since exhibited worldwide, representing Scotland at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015. With a practice heavily influenced by the forging of local and national identities, he translates his preoccupations into video, performance, sculpture, photography and installation.