The Magic Money Tree by Kirsty Mackay

Kirsty Mackay has been working collaboratively with communities across England, documenting the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and the realities of poverty in the world’s 6th largest economy. We will be exhibiting the resulting project entitled The Magic Money Tree, produced in collaboration with The New Art Gallery, Walsall. 

Born in Glasgow and based in Bristol, Kirsty Mackay is a photographic artist, educator, activist and filmmaker. Her research-led documentary practice examines issues of gender, class and discrimination. Her last book, The Fish That Never Swam (2021) was an elegy to her hometown of Glasgow, and the fallout of 1970s housing developments that led to the fragmentation of working-class communities and neighbourhoods. 

About Kirsty Mackay:

Her research-led documentary practice highlights social issues surrounding gender, class and discrimination. She has an MA in Documentary photography from University of South Wales, Newport.

Her current book project The Fish That Never Swam, considers class and discrimination against working-class people. Combining first-person narratives with photographs, it takes Glasgow as a case study, looking at the root causes of the city’s poor health outcomes and lower life expectancy.

Examining the relationship between the environment, government policy, historical trauma, and public health. It shifts the emphasis from individual life style choices to the effects that political policies have on our bodies. It will be published as a book in 2021.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently in the Facing Britain group show, an observation of British Documentary Photography since the 60’s alongside works by Martin Parr, Anna Fox & David Hurn, Museum Goch, Germany.

In collaboration with:

Supported by: