Bingham Mermaid Remembered

Background

In January 2026. I received the opportunity to develop and deliver a series of art workshops as part of Queen Margaret University's Widening Inclusion and Retention programme (WISeR) As a student ambassador, it would be my role to work with a local community partner to develop a series of art workshops. This opportunity is designed to give students at Queen Margaret's hands on experience delivering arts workshops whilst giving locals communities a chance to vocalise issues important to them (Purdie. 2023).

This project was based in Craigmillar, an area to the east of Edinburgh, and local to Queen Margaret University. Craigmillar has a strong sense of local identity and a rich history of community led arts projects. It is also an area of multiple deprivation (SIMD. 2020). I was enthusiastic about this opportunity but also aware of the complex relationship participatory arts has with widening social participation. Francois Matarasso's highly influential 1997 report, 'Use or ornament' surveyed a wide array of participatory art activities and concluded as to the myriad social benefits they had. Matarasso speaks confidently of participatory arts ability to improve social cohesion amongst the excluded, build individual confidence and encourage involvement in the local community. Matarasso also highlights the cost effectiveness of participatory arts programmes compared to existing social care services (p.77). Critiques of Matarasso question participatory arts ability to engender meaningful social change, reframing participatory art activities as "mitigating the perception they [socially excluded individuals] have of their own exclusion (Merli. 2004 p.19). I wanted my work to avoid the pro-ruling-ideology underpinning that critics of Matarasso ascribe to his.

I chose to work with Craigmillar Now, an Arts and Heritage organisation and custodian of the local archives. Of the various local organisations I could have chosen Craigmillar Now stood out to me for multiple reasons. I have an interest in local history and community archives, and was eager to work in response to large collection of archival material that Craigmillar Now look after. This archive material is collectively documented by local volunteers, who employ their first-hand knowledge to catalogue items. Additionally, I was already a studio holder with Craigmillar Now and had started building a relationship with other community members. I worked specifically with the community archive group which met on Mondays.

A Copy of Craigmillar Festival News - a local newspaper

Workshops

I spent my first session with the group getting to know a few volunteers and engaging with the archive material. Craigmillar Now hold the archives of the Craigmillar Festival Society (CFS), a community based art and social work organisation which was founded in 1962 (The Herald. 1999) and existed for over 40 years. The festival society operated entirely by Craigmillar locals in response to the poverty of the area. Not just economic poverty but a "lack of capacity for self-fulfilment" (Crummy. 1992. p.10). The festival society provided locals with creative outlets that celebrated local identity alongside a robust social care programme (p.12). The CFSs creative outlets: musicals, pageants and their social sculpture programme, were also a way for locals to campaign about issues important to them. I was very inspired by the attitude of the CFS, It was a community led project that directly coupled art-work with social work.

Through engaging with archival material and listening to volunteers' own experiences of the CFS, I discovered the Bingham mermaid, which would become the focus of my workshops. The Bingham Mermaid was a former 20ft concrete and mosaic statue commissioned by the CFS to physically obstruct the construction of a motorway which would have cut through Craigmillar neighbourhoods (The Bingham Mermaid - Craigmillar Now). The mermaid was designed by New York artist Pedro Silva and constructed entirely by Craigmillar locals. Despite being demolished nearly 40 years ago, the memory of the mermaid was important to locals.

Pedro Silva was a community based mosaic sculptor. He frequently worked in areas of deprivation, designing and constructing colourful, mosaic covered sculptures with the community (Silva Stegall. 2016). Silva had a unique process for designing mosaic motifs with individuals. Silva gave each participant a sheet of paper and asked each of them to draw a cartoon. Next participants cut up tiles into organic shapes to fill the drawing. Once finished, the mosaic picture was covered in contact paper. 

I decided to recreate this process for my first workshop. I used paper instead of ceramic tile and provided glue for participants to use as well as contact paper. The results were successful, although participants questioned the ease of using the contact paper to stick all of the "tiles" down. On reflection, I would run this activity again but try it as Silva intended, with tiles and not paper.

The First Workshop

Workshop 2 was a walk to the site of the former statue. For this workshop, I took influence from the situationist derive.  (Debord. 1958). The derive invites individuals to challenge their relationship with an urban environment through play and chance. I prepared a zine for participants with a series of provocations they could engage with along the walk.

Participants really enjoyed the zine and I was pleased to have included participants who did not wish to engage with the previous workshop.

Workshop 3 contained my favourite activity. After a warm up activity where we collectively made a giant mermaid themed cut up poem,  I tasked the group with designing a plaque memorialising something they believed deserved more attention. I loved this activity for its simplicity in design and the fact that it allowed everyone to engage and contribute something they were passionate about.

I wanted the project to build towards a procession to the site of the former mermaid in which everyone had made an individual contribution. Workshops 4 and 5 were crafting based. I tasked the group with a more open ended activity. I presented them with a selection of materials and a mood board and asked them to create either a banner or a mask.

A participant's banner

On the 6th workshop, we walked down to the site of the statue once again and each shared about our individual contribution and reflected on the workshop series as a whole.

Reflections

The biggest takeaway from this project for me was the passion that the participants had for local community history and how reflecting on this history could engender new conversations. Participants connected the history of the CFS and its arts based activism with contemporary political issues both globally and locally. Through these conversations, I learnt so much about local issues that had been affecting participants. These conversations have echoed through Craigmillar Now and I hope to continue working with them on the steering committee to explore and advocate for some of the issues throughout this project.  

I think the real success of this project was my ability to integrate into the community  at Craigmillar Now through participatory art activities. It was essential to me that my approach was not paternalistic. I wanted to use collective artmaking to promote conversation and build trust and I feel I achieved these. I believe this project also demonstrated a community demand for a larger, more resourced art project reflecting on the Bingham Mermaid and the history of the CFSs community sculpture programme.

Reference List

Purdie. U. (2023) Craigmillar's Community Artwork on Show and University Available at: Craigmillar’s Community Artwork on Show at University  - The Edinburgh Reporter [Date Accessed 16/4/26]

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. (2020). Available at: SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) [Date Accessed 16/4/26]

Matarasso. F. (1997) Use or Ornament: The Social Impact of Participation in the Arts. Stroud. Comedia

Merli. P. (2004). 'Evaluating the social impact of participation in arts activities: A critical review of François Matarasso's Use or Ornament?' Variant. Spring 2004. pp.17-21

Jack Kane (1999). The Herald. Available at: Jack Kane | The Herald [Date Accessed 16/4/26]

Crummy. H. (1992). Let the people Sing! A story of Craigmillar Newcraighall: Helen Crummy

The Bingham Mermaid - Craigmillar Now. Available at: 9: The Bingham Mermaid — Craigmillar Now [Date Accessed 16/4/26]

Silva Stegall. M. (2016). Pedro Pablo Silva and the Grant's Tomb Memorial Available at: Timeless Mosaics | ArtSpeak [Date Accessed 16/4/26]

Debord. G. (1958). Theory of the Derive . Available at: Situationist International | Theory of the Dérive: Situationist International Archive [Date Accessed 16/4/26]