iStills: Centre for PhotographyOld Town
Jillian Edelstein – Among People
This exhibition has ended.
First major survey of documentary and portrait photographer Jillian Edelstein, spanning four decades of everyday lives and pivotal historical moments.
Museum websiteMore in Edinburgh
Desmond Tutu sits with his head resting on his arms. Susan Mansfield wrote in The Scotsman that the portrait seems to sum up the weight of sorrow in South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which Edelstein photographed for four years: widows, mothers of murdered sons, and Father Lapsley, the ANC chaplain whose hands were blown off by a letter bomb.
This is the first Scottish survey of the Cape Town-born, London-based photographer, a few pictures from each series. You walk in among her 1980s Kalk Bay fishermen and the ladies of Pinelands Bowling Club, then meet Primo Levi, James Baldwin and Nelson Mandela, Gilbert & George on matching chairs, and the cold-water swimmers of Hampstead Heath's ponds, a lockdown series she swam in herself.
The Scotsman gave it five stars, and its one complaint is that each section leaves you wanting more. Entry is free, Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 5pm. A free but ticketed tour with Edelstein and curator Tracy Marshall-Grant runs on 24 October, 1pm to 2.30pm.
Look for
Desmond Tutu, head on his arms
Look for the Archbishop slumped forward, face buried on folded arms, in the Truth and Reconciliation series; the Scotsman singled it out.
Father Lapsley, Cape Town, 1997
The ANC chaplain deported to Lesotho, photographed after a letter bomb sent by a government death squad blew off his hands.
John Hadju and the teddy bear
From Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors, he is shot mostly in shadow while the light falls on a small teddy bear.
Bert Hardy and Anne Scott-James
The Picture Post photographer shares a joke with the former women's editor, his face all mischief.
Gilbert & George on matching chairs
From Affinities, her series of pairs, alongside Fiona Shaw and Deborah Warner crossing a wintry park.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Rainy Days
Skip if
You want to go deep into one series: there are only a few pictures from each.
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
8
- Stills: Centre for PhotographyKirsty S. Ross / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Ade Adesina: BardAde Adesina, 'Borders', 2025. Photo: Neil Corall
- Gifted: New Acquisitions at the City Art CentreJessie M. King, Fraunchyse (detail), c.1907. City of Edinburgh Museums & Galleries (Photo: Fine Art Society)
- Colours of the Past: A Creative Writing ExhibitionCourtesy of The Writers' Museum
- FruitmarketStefan Schäfer, Lich / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- City Art CentreMacfack / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The Writers' MuseumStefan Schäfer, Lich (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museum of ChildhoodPretzelles / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0