Donald Butler, 'FLARE' (2026)

‘FLARE’ reflects on artist Donald Butler​’s early art making growing up in the shadow of Grangemouth, until recently the location of Scotland’s largest oil refinery. Consisting of scanned 35mm photographs, early drawings, throw-away pieces of writing, instant photography and archival material, ​‘FLARE’ seeks to draw parallels between industrial and emotional processes and to queer typical narratives of industrial heritage.

In the oil refining process, flares are used as a safety feature to burn off excess materials and gasses. They are essential for managing pressure surges during startups, shutdowns, emergencies, as well as for handling gasses that cannot be readily captured, processed, or otherwise used.

The word ​‘flare’ may also be used to describe a brief emotion, or a temporary intensification of conditions related to chronic illnesses, such as inflammatory immune responses or the restriction of airwaves in respiratory conditions. ​‘To flare’, then, describes the moment when there is an excess of feeling, a built up response that requires release, spreading out across the environment, turning the skin red, dilating the pupils, raising of the voice, increasing bodily temperature. ​‘To flare’ is the process through which those excessive feelings and materials are expressed or consumed.

‘FLARE’ digs into the ways the materials have entered and re-entered different forms of petrochemical production. Prints have been processed, scanned, printed and rescanned, representing a constant back and forth between physical chemical-based processing, handling and digital manipulation.

Archival material in ​‘FLARE’ has been provided courtesy of Falkirk Archives.

‘FLARE’ is presented with closed captions by Valery Tough in consultation with Jamie Rae.

‘FLARE’ is presented with presented with Audio Description by SoundScribe. Audio describer and Narrator: Elaine Lillian Joseph and Access Consultant: Kirin Saeed.

Use the buttons under the video window to toggle between a captioned version and audio described version of the work. The CC button in the video window switches captions on and off.

An Easy Read version of this text is available here.

Sensory notes:

• Visual: ​‘FLARE’ contains rapid moving imagery. It passed the Harding Test, an automatic test for photosensitive epilepsy (PSE), with no instances of Luminance Flash, Red Flash or Spatial Pattern. Viewers sensitive to archival film textures or screen flicker should be advised.
• Audio: ​‘FLARE’ contains high volume buzzing throughout.

Image description: A scanned portrait analogue photograph is shown landscape, showing the deep silhouette of an urban street against a blue-yellow sunset. The photograph’s damaged edges are shown at the edge of the frame.