A collaborative exhibition that uses photography and narrative as a lens onto state violence, death, grief and resistance.

“The soul of our loved one lives forever in our hearts & memories, which will never die."

- Marcia Rigg, Participant and Family Campaigner

SoulsINQUEST, Platform, Glasgow 10 May - 29 June 

SoulsINQUEST uses photography, text and archive as a lens onto state violence, death, grief and resistance. The exhibition is an embodiment of family resistance that refuses to be silenced, misrepresented or forgotten. A collaboration between bereaved families, Sarah Booker and INQUEST, it is a powerful act of defiance in response to decades of injustice.

SoulsINQUEST opens at Platform in Glasgow on 10 May. A series of events will take place as part of Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art 2024 – Scotland's biennial festival of contemporary art taking place between 17 – 22 June.

Register here if you would like to come to our launch event on Thursday 9 May.

Platform is the arts centre at the heart of The Bridge in Easterhouse offering a year-round performance, music and visual arts programme, participation classes, education and outreach.

The Project

Sarah Booker has worked alongside 18 family members, all of whom have been traumatically bereaved due to state violence. Together, they have created multiple visual and textual elements that are in dialogue with each other. The exhibition features narrative writing, family portraits and a ‘concept photograph’ that encapsulates the soul or essence of a loved one that has died and the impact of grief. 

Individually, they represent the most intimate and private reflections on grief; collectively, they are monuments to the thousands of families that INQUEST has worked with for more than 40 years. 

Alongside the photographs and narratives, there is display for material from INQUEST’s archive, including posters, pamphlets and imagery from protests, rallies, campaigns and media spanning the past four decades. 

SoulsINQUEST was first exhibited in May 2023 at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning in Brixton where it was curated by Languid Hands.

Photographs by Sarah Booker, in collaboration with Anna Susianta, Tania El Keria & Gemmy Levy, Aziz Ahmed, Marcia Rigg, Lee Lawrence, Lee Jarman, Kadi Johnson, Tony Herbert & Chris Herbert, Rosie Tozer, Ajibola Lewis, Yvonne & Joanna Bailey, Donna Mooney, Melanie Leahy, James McDonald, June Hartigan, Bernard Sylvester, Sheila Sylvester, Rupert Sylvester, Linda Allan & Stuart Allan, and Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennett. 

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INQUEST would like to give thanks for funding and support from National Lottery Community Fund, Reaching Communities, National Heritage Lottery Fund, Aamer Anwar & Co, Garden Court Chambers and Matrix Chambers. Thanks to National Lottery players!