We Deh Here

Tracing the relationship between Scotland and Guyana through photography, sewing, genealogical research, and matrilineal lines, this 16 mm film installation by Maybelle Peters combines stills of historical sites in Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands with audio conversations between the artist and her mother. It investigates and speculates on their interconnection as an expression of British and Scottish colonialism.
The 16 mm reel created for exhibition contexts has been sewn into by the artist, resulting in an image that constantly fluctuates in focus and clarity.

Maybelle Peters is a London-based artist and filmmaker working with digital video, film, CGI and textiles. Her practice explores the movement of black corporeality in time and space using an archive of ephemera, gestures and sounds. Her first commissioned film, A Lesson in History for BBC2, was followed by an animated adaptation of Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks. She received the inaugural Womxn of Colour art award (2020) and has presented work at various international festivals. Maybelle holds a doctorate in creative technology from the University of the Arts, where her inquiry examined extractivism through motion capture.

Director Maybelle Peters. Cinematography Maybelle Peters. Editing Maybelle Peters. Animation Maybelle Peters. Producer Milo Clenshaw. Executive Producers Rachael Disbury, Michael Pattison. Production company Alchemy Film and Arts (Hawick, United Kingdom).

Films: 1990: A Lesson in History, Black Skin, White Masks. 1995: Mama Lou. 2019: Ocean Going Figurine, In the Round. 2020: The Morning Has Gold in its Mouth, Heavy Bones. 2023: Conserving Matter. 2024: Royal Blue Phalanxes. 2025: We Deh Here.