Trading Zone 2025 is a thought-provoking student exhibition organised by the University of Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery. A namesake to the exhibition, Trading Zone is a term coined by science historian Peter Galison that is defined as the intersection between how different worldviews can meet within scientific collaborations. This theory is strongly exhibited in a range of perspectives across eleven thoughtful works within the gallery.
The exhibition is multisensory and interactive, as the artists’ manipulation of scale, texture, and technology creates an immersive environment. I appreciated the vast discussions the varied artworks contributed to the topic of Trading Zone – artworks ranged from topics surrounding the intersection of art and healthcare (as expressed in Emily Beaney’s Deviant, 2021), the considerations of the experiences of young queer Muslims (as depicted in Inayah, A Little Flash of Lightning, 2025), and many more thoughtful interpretations of the meaning of Trading Zone. This diversity in both media and interpretation painted a powerful representation of the complexities of the world we live in and how art can be used as a communicative tool in materialising these abstract thoughts.
In tandem with the presented exhibits, the set of accompanying poems by Maria Schiza, that should be read alongside the curated works of the Trading Zone exhibition, layered depth to the artwork through the contextualisation in written media. This, I thought, was a helpful tool in aiding viewers to better engage with the work while being an exhibit in itself.
A piece that I felt drawn towards was Hanayo Kubota’s When Home Isn’t Your Home Anymore, 2024-2025. The work, two myrioramas (a set of illustrated cards), depicted stories of a Syrian family fleeing civil war and stories of children living in Palestine. Inspired by journalistic work of people affected by war, Kubota takes an anthropological approach in representing this research through craft, producing work that is insightful, empathetic and incredibly relevant to current world issues.
This exhibition felt rich and genuine in its exploration of people and communities and how different cultural landscapes interact with complex understandings of identity. It offers an empowering demonstration of the role art plays in advocating the voices of the forgotten, overlooked or persecuted, creating a space to explore these more sensitive, though important, political, social and cultural conversations.
Inayah, A Little Flash of Lightning, 2025. Installation view. Courtesy Talbot Rice Gallery, the University of Edinburgh. Photo- Sally Jubb.