Outlook | Camera Obscura

This workshop was part of a larger programme of public engagement projects and exhibition, BY LEAVES WE LIVE, devised and facilitated for pupils from Perth Primary Schools.

Located on the banks of the River Tay, pupils created personal and collaborative works of art in a wide variety of media in an ‘open-air studio’, in response to the public art installation, MEANDER, by Elizabeth Ogilvie and Rob Page sited in Perth’s City Centre.

Following the Project, we exhibited the pupils’ work at Perth’s Civic Hall.

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As an act of homage to Perth’s famous son, Sir Patrick Geddes, local primary school pupils in Perth created their very own camera obscura. In 1982, town planner Geddes assumed management of the Camera Obscura located in Edinburgh and renamed it the Outlook Tower. People from all walks of life were invited to view their place within the city and the natural world.

Inspired by the River Tay these devices encourage pause and reflection - making the familiar unfamiliar - allowing observers to see the landscape in a new light.

The pupils paused to appreciate the way in which this activity ‘bridged’ the two banks of the river, and also the world beneath and above the surface of the River Tay. The group discovered, discussed and created abstract reflections, surfaces, cloudscapes, riverscapes and more, echoing some of the visual themes within MEANDER.