Tamara Richardson, Public and Community Engagement Officer at DJAC, reflects on the current exhibition in the Cooper Gallery:
This week I’ve been invigilating the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 in the Cooper Gallery—an exhibition of extraordinary tenderness and presence. As I moved through the quiet of the space, I found myself reflecting not only on the works on the wall, but on my own path through this building, this university, this city.
I first stepped into the Cooper Gallery in 2012. The exhibition was called Drawing Breath. I remember it vividly. I stood still within it. It was the first time I had felt drawings, they were presented with such a poetic gravity, openness, and intimacy. That moment played it’s own part in my decision to study at DJCAD and to make Dundee my home for the next decade. Years later, I learned that Drawing Breath also launched our Principal Curator, Sophia Yadong Hao’s programme for the Cooper Gallery. A beginning at DJCAD, for both of us.
Now, twelve years on, I find myself standing in the same spot, this time I have the privilege of holding the keys. I’m here as a member of staff, not a student. Taking part in the ritual of unlocking the doors, switching on the lights, welcoming people in, my own quiet practice.
And yet, something has shifted. Our university is in pain. We are in a moment of deep financial uncertainty. I, like many others, have been faced with the decision of whether to apply for voluntary severance. It’s a heavy choice. A deeply personal one.
To be honest, I don’t yet know what I will do. But I do know this: Drawing Breath was a metaphysical beginning, and this exhibition feels like it’s echo. A full circle? Or maybe a turning point? Perhaps what I carry with me from here will become the beginning of something new.
To those whose drawings have hung on these walls: thank you. To those who came into this school and told me how it made you feel: thank you. And to this strange, beloved space in the south facing basement of our art school, thank you. For showing me how drawing, and being, can be both delicate and strong. How art can hold us in moments of transition and teach us how to breathe through the unknown.
“Drawing, after all, is free.”
Exhibition Continues in Cooper Gallery Thursday – Saturday 12-4 until 25 July
Images taken by Tamara Richardson at the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 exhibition, Cooper Gallery, University of Dundee, July 2025.