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Public artwork

All Water Is Connected

2026 · The Hidden Gardens, Glasgow · Refugee Festival Scotland 2026, commissioned by the Scottish Refugee Council

Bronze, kaolin clay, cowrie shells and Iona Greenstone

A temporary public artwork exploring ancestral and contemporary migration and belonging through water, earth and story.

An aerial view of a large circular drawing made in white clay on grass, marked out inside a square of white cord. Curved uli lines, spirals and small circles radiate outward from a central point, where a curved bronze arc stands above two small bowls.
All Water Is Connected, The Hidden Gardens, Glasgow, 2026. One of three installations on the Lawn.

Made from bronze and earth, the three installations invited visitors to become part of a living cartography. All Water Is Connected was a consideration of our fluid relationship to land: how new lands welcome us and our homelands remember us.

The installations drew on non-Western cartography, such as Ojibwe migration charts, Tuareg sand maps, and Igbo chalk practices. They were developed through research on Iona — an island known for its ancient geology, associations with peace, and history as a centre of travel. There I gathered materials, including Iona Greenstone and cowrie shells, both protective talismans. These informed the work in The Hidden Gardens, Scotland’s first Garden of Sanctuary.

Visitors were invited to move around the artworks three times sun-wise (clockwise) and reflect on the themes of peace and protection. Over the exhibition the works changed with the weather and rain.

The bronze sculptures were made with the help of Glasgow Sculpture Studios.

Press

Interview — Refugee Festival Scotland

The Scotsman reel

Credits

Photographs
Polina Perfilieva, The Hidden Gardens, Jamie Simpson and Kamila Atzhanova