Isabel Barfod Announced as Recipient of the 2023 Margaret Tait Commission

We are delighted to announce artist Isabel Barfod as the fourteenth recipient of the Margaret Tait Commission, an opportunity that recognises experimental and innovative artists working with the moving image delivered in partnership with Glasgow Film.

Isabel’s new moving image work will be held by new research in Scotland and England to consider the relation between Blackness, water, swimming and public swimming pools. Isabel will develop an experimental animation which seeks to gather, unpack and speculate alongside counter-historical, experiential and mythological actors, as a way to render the multiple planes of feeling inside isolated ephemeral encounters.

This year’s commission sees an increased budget of £20,000 to produce a new work, which will premiere at Glasgow Film Festival in 2024, followed by a solo presentation at LUX in London alongside a Scotland-wide tour.

Artists Renèe Helèna Browne, Rhona Mühlebach, and George Finlay Ramsay were shortlisted for the commission alongside Isabel, from a significant number of eligible artists who were nominated through an open call process.

Established in 2010, the Margaret Tait Commission is a LUX Scotland commission delivered in partnership with Glasgow Film, backed by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland. Previously known as the Margaret Tait Award, the name was changed in 2023 to more accurately reflect the nature of the opportunity. Inspired by the pioneering Orcadian filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait (1918 – 99), the commissioning opportunity recognises experimental and innovative artists working with the moving image, offering a unique avenue of production support and providing a high-profile platform to exhibit newly commissioned work.

Nominations are by a panel of artists and professionals from across the fields of the visual arts and cinema. The selection panel for the 2023 Margaret Tait Commission comprised Sepake Angiama, Artistic Director, Iniva, London; Duncan Marquiss (artist and 2015 Margaret Tait Commission recipient); Ainslie Roddick, Artistic Director, Atlas Arts; Anne Petrie, Visual Arts Officer, Creative Scotland; Julia Paoli, Director and curator, Mercer Union, Toronto and was chaired by Kitty Anderson, Director, LUX Scotland.

Previous Margaret Tait Commission recipients include Sulaïman Majali; Andrew Black; Emilia Beatriz; Jamie Crewe; Alberta Whittle; Sarah Forrest; Kate Davis; Duncan Marquiss; Charlotte Prodger; Rachel Maclean; Stephen Sutcliffe; Anne-Marie Copestake; and Torsten Lauschmann.

Kitty Anderson, Director of LUX Scotland, said, ​“It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to oversee the selection on the 2023 Margaret Tait Commission and the Margaret Tait Residency. We received a fantastic range of nominations for the commission, and a huge number of applications for the residency, demonstrating the demand for opportunities such as these. We were delighted to see the strength and breadth of practice in moving image from across Scotland, and my thanks go to all the applicants and nominated artists (and their nominators) for taking the time to submit their work for consideration. I also want to thank Creative Scotland for their ongoing support of the commission and the residency, and to our partners Glasgow Film and the Pier Arts Centre.

The standard for both shortlists was incredibly high and I’m grateful to the artists for their thoughtful and considered proposals. My thanks also go to this year’s selection panels for their time and energy – it’s rewarding to have such in-depth and rigorous discussion about artistic practice. We look forward to working with Isabel and Cal over the coming months.”

Anne Petrie, Visual Arts Officer at Creative Scotland said: ​“Congratulations to both Isabel Barfod and Cal Mac on becoming recipients of the 2023 Margaret Tait Commission and Residency respectively. Creative Scotland is delighted to be a partner in both of these opportunities which offer valuable time and support to artists. The standard of submissions across both awards was incredibly high, and we look forward to seeing how Isabel and Cal use these awards to develop their moving image work as well as seeing Isabel’s work premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2024 before being presented in venues across Scotland as part of the planned tour.”