I still believe in miracles

Today the doors of  Inverleith House, situated at the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh, are sadly set to close. The current exhibition, "I still believe in miracles" celebrates 30 years of the gallery. Today at 3pm there was a "mass visit" to support the gallery and there also is an online petition to save it. I have only been in Edinburgh a few years, but one of the highlights for me was the Isa Genzken exhibition from September 2014.

The exhibitions I have seen are always challenging, original and innovative. Also, being situated in the Botanical Gardens it means that a broader public visit who otherwise might not go to these types of exhibitions. Yesterday I was there with my mother-in-law who I don't think has ever been to a modern art gallery. Encouraged by the assistants she took away some Jim Lambie red posters of platform shoes that were part of the exhibition. These will be winging their way to a small village in Germany very soon.

As I was taking pictures, I somehow always found myself in the same rooms as an older couple. The man was grumbling the whole time about the 'terrible drawings' to his wife who told him to 'enjoy the Georgian building' or go out. He must have enjoyed a good grumble or annoying his wife as he stayed and grumbled throughout the whole exhibition. I think it is a good sign if you hear someone grumbling in a public art gallery, as it indicates it is not just the usual audience visiting. As for his wife, she may have not got there in the first place if it hadn't been for the pretext of the visit to the Botanics.

The current exhibition features the many Scottish and International artists including Roni Horn, Louise Bourgeoise, Douglas Gordon and Ian Hamilton Finlay who have had solo shows in the gallery over the years together as well as botanical drawings from the collection of John Hope (1725-1786) and others. I particularly liked the topsy-turvy botanical drawing of a flower which I photographed above. Planted upside down as part of an experiment, the plant does a u-turn as it grows up towards the light. I hope that the Botanical Gardens, Creative Scotland and Edinburgh Council will also see the light and hopefully the gallery will continue to thrive in the future with the rest of the flora and fauna Botanical Gardens. I still believe in miracles.