A blue note in jazz is a note that is sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than standard for expressive purposes. It's a key feature of blues and jazz music, giving it its distinctive, emotional, and soulful sound.

Blue Note is a love letter to jazz. Represented through the perspectives of four young female jazz artists in Scotland, this project is about the magic behind the scenes. Working in close collaboration with Ayla Ersoy, Kimberley Tessa, Becca Sloan, and Eleanor Colee, it captures the energy and freedom found in the lives of these women and the jazz scene as a whole. Using snapshots, the context of the jazz industry has been developed through details of gigs and venues. By working closely with each subject, the portraiture introduces the viewer to each subject as a woman. The immersive installation has been composed like a song by emphasising energy, chaos, colour, layers, and movement, using jazz music theory as a structure to create the story. By applying the specific patterns, layering and arrangements of a jazz song to inform the installation, Blue Note is a translation of the structures of jazz into a visual form.

Exhibition Notes

A jazz song has 32 bars, with the tune divided into 4 sections. The final selection is 33 images, with one representing the count-in. There are four main characters and 4 framed leading portraits representing the pattern used in the 4 sections of a jazz composition - AABA. That pattern is mimicked through the use of black & white and colour images, moving from left to right in the collage.