Scottish Art Highlights: October 2025

Two DIY exhibitions arrive at artist-led galleries in Edinburgh this month, kicking off at EMBASSY. Open from 3 until 26 October, sculptor Lily Lavorato presents their solo show On the Sick Road. Through sculpture and text, Lavorato traverses isolation and steep terrain to trace wounds through bodies and landscapes.

Then, at Leith Makers, twelve pairs of artists come together in The Postal Exchange. Over several months, the artists (who were matched at random) swapped materials and inspiration via post. The exhibition – spanning collage, photography and mixed media – is the culmination of this exchange. There’s also a chance to collaborate via a living collage wall, that will grow and expand during the exhibition, which takes place from 15 until 26 October.

Tai Shani’s sculpture of a sleeping blue giant has been beguiling onlookers in Somerset House, London. The Spell or The Dream is travelling to Jupiter Artland, as part of a programme of exhibitions that draw upon folklore, mythology and the earth. Opening on 11 October, Shani, Florence Peake and Georg Wilson all present works at the sculpture park.

In Glasgow, The Alasdair Gray Archive maps Glasgow through a queer, working-class lens. Titled The City, the exhibition finds inspiration in Gray’s role as ‘artist recorder’ and his ambition to preserve the city and its inhabitants through drawing. Running until 13 November, The City examines how people from marginalised people experience Glasgow, and how their lives are enriched by community.

At Dundee University’s Cooper Gallery, Grace Ndiritu stages Sit-in #5: Compassionate Rebels in Action, centring practices of radical spirituality, social justice and decolonisation. This exhibition is rooted in the transformative power of activism and marks the culmination of an event project called The Ignorant Art School: Five Sit-ins towards Creative Emancipation. Opens on 10 October and continues until 13 December.

A stone’s throw away, Dundee Contemporary Arts present bone stone voice alone, a solo exhibition by Lauren Gault. Encompassing sculpture, print, and moving image, Gault explores the censorship of speech via Echo, a character in Ovid’s Metamorphosis who was punished for taking too much and was bound to only repeat the words last spoken to her. The exhibition, which opens on 25 October until 18 January 2026, draws on Scottish history and illuminates stories of silencing.