We spoke to Gerard M Burns, an artist who has painted the likes of Nicola Sturgeon, Ewan McGregor and Billy Connolly, at Eusebi’s in the West End at the launch of his newest exhibit.
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00:00We're getting filmed here, away you go.
00:02Look at Nona in the background.
00:04Just lean forward, Gerry, from there.
00:06This particular painting is part of a new exhibition,
00:09a new series of paintings I'm working on
00:12for an exhibition entitled Mother Glasgow.
00:15The exhibition will feature 12 women from around the world
00:20who've chosen to make the city of Glasgow their home.
00:22So far I have six of the 12,
00:26and this particular lady, this amazing lady,
00:30Gina Eusebi, was suggested to me.
00:33Most of the sitters...
00:35I haven't gone looking specifically for people.
00:38Most of the sitters have been either suggested
00:42or have presented themselves.
00:44And when I heard her story, she came here at the age of 17.
00:48An amazing life story.
00:50So I think she's going to be the oldest sitter.
00:55I know I say that to her.
00:57I think she's going to be the oldest sitter.
01:00But I've got a cross-section of ages, of ethnicity.
01:05And the point of the show ultimately is
01:08to focus on the notion of immigration,
01:12which is such a hot potato,
01:14by asking people to focus on individuals and individual stories
01:20rather than to think about homogenous groups,
01:24they or them.
01:26It's much harder if you are having to deal with a person than a group.
01:32I am understanding, as I go along,
01:36that there are layers to this.
01:39I wanted to focus initially specific on the notion of immigration,
01:43and I think initially I thought maybe it wouldn't necessarily be all women.
01:48But to focus on the role of women,
01:50the importance of women in our society, in different cultures,
01:54it just brings an extra huge dimension to the whole narrative.