Writing & Decolonising Together | Lorna Burns & Zainab Imran

Join us for a series of letter writing experiments addressing “Other” or “Enemy” to imagine decolonial practice and embrace lessons of collective change, liberatory action, empathy and humanity.

Participants are invited to write anonymous Love Letters (to be shared with each other) to engage in bridge-building and work toward truth and reconciliation with the Other.

The session is grounded in the spirit of anti-racism, feminism and decolonial strategies centred in

Lorna Burns (Senior Lecturer in Postcolonial Literatures) & Zainab Imran (poet, facilitator and museum community engagement officer and PhD canditate) at the University of St Andrews will guide participants through a series of invitations to prompt the letter writing. This event is programmed in collaboration with the School of English at University of St Andrews and is open to all, including staff, students and the public.

This event is part of , programmed with Grace Ndiritu for The Ignorant Art School Sit-in Curriculum #5. This series of conversations, workshops and gatherings is designed by Grace Ndiritu, drawing on her book Being Together: A Manual For Living as a template.

Free, open to all.
To participate please sign-up for a space via Eventbrite.

No prior experience or preparation is required.
Participants are invited to contribute their physical letters to Ndiritu's archive.
The exhibition will be open to view ahead of the workshop beginning.

Beyond the session, participants are invited to contribute their physical letters to be added to Ndiritu’s archive.

Paper will be provided.
Please bring a pen/pencil for writing with.

Lorna Burns is Senior Lecturer in Postcolonial Literatures in the School of English at the University of St Andrews. She completed her MA (hons) and PhD at the University of Glasgow. Her research focusses on the intersection between literature and philosophy within the field of postcolonial studies. She is the author of Postcolonialism After World Literature: Relation, Equality, Dissent (Bloomsbury, 2019), Contemporary Caribbean Writing and Deleuze: Literature Between Postcolonialism and Post-continental Philosophy (Continuum, 2012), and the forthcoming Engagements with Postcolonial Literature and Theory (Routledge).

Zainab Imran (all pronouns) is a poet, facilitator and museum community engagement officer based in Scotland. They are currently completing their Creative Writing PhD (University of St Andrews) on colonial haunting within museum spaces. Zainab has won the Royal Society of Literature Sky Arts Award as Emerging Writer of Colour for Poetry 2022, was shortlisted for the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize in 2024, has been published in Gutter, Propel, Wasafiri and was a part of Words a Stage 2.0 with Apples and Snakes and UNDERTOW 2024-25 with the Poetry Translation Centre.

Cooper Gallery is located to the right side of the DJCAD buildings on Perth Road. The entrance is via double doors which face onto a car park.

The gallery is on two floors. First floor has ramped access and disabled toilet.

Second floor is accessible via lift and for wheelchair access via a stairclimber. The event is held on the second floor. The exhibition is on both the first and second floor of the gallery.

Please email in advance if you require lift or stairclimber access.

First floor is also accessible via 24 steps. Two flights of 12 steps with handrails are separated by a landing.

Exhibition videos are subtitled and captioned in English. Seating is provided and/or additional seating available, please ask an invigilator.

For all enquiries please email: [email protected]

The ground floor has a wheelchair accessible toilet. The toilet is gender neutral.

Large print versions of the exhibition information handout are available, please ask our Guides. If you require alternative formats for material in exhibitions please email or ask our Guides.

, is an exhibition and event programme by Grace Ndiritu.
It is the fifth iteration of Cooper Gallery's programme, .

Visit
10 October – 13 December 2025
Tuesday – Saturday, 12–5pm

The Ignorant Art School Sit-in #5 at Cooper Gallery, DJCAD is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Cooper Gallery