5 May 2023
A project to work with young people to explore the heritage and nature.
A project to work with young people to explore the heritage and nature.
Platform recently hosted Red Easterhouse - an exhibition curated by artist Keira McLean and Easterhouse Living Archive (a group formed of people in the local community).
Running as part of The Glasgow Trades Union Council May Day Programme 2026, the exhibition featured archive material gathered in 2025 when Keira and the group created a stained glass window depicting local histories of resistance. The stained glass window is installed in The Bridge library.
The exhibition also featured archive film and work-in-progress that the group created as part of Fire Stories - a workers theatre performance about the radical history of Easterhouse which will be performed as part of Glasgow International in June.
Keira said: "The Easterhouse Living Archive is an ongoing community project with a focus on unearthing, preserving and engaging with the working class histories and struggles of Easterhouse. Based at Platform the archive is much more than a thing of history but rather a constant project of utopian thinking.
“The importance of researching, documenting and celebrating our own histories of resistance and survival feels more relevant than ever as Glasgow’s working class history and diaspora are being constantly pushed to the margins. We are here and we want to live!”
As part of the exhibition, Building a Peoples Archive took place at the end of April - an event that invited people to join and find out more about the project and the archive, with members of the Easterhouse Living Archive group sharing insights and personal stories and reflections, including the history of The Voice, a community newspaper.
Along with the exhibition in situ, the focus was very much on the importance of building community power through the act of collecting, preserving and sharing local histories.
Parts of the exhibition are still available to view at Platform; a sharing of work in progress from the group's visits to The Mitchell Library and as well as pieces exploring old stories and histories - especially around The Voice newspaper.
Fire Stories is a multimedia project led by artist Keira McLean in collaboration with filmmaker Caireen Stuart and animator Akvile Dirmauskaite.
Part of Glasgow International Festival 2026, for more information follow link here
