‘Nature Will Take Revenge’, 2024/2026, Artwork by Alicia Bruce and Rob Menlove Mixed media (spray painted analogue photographic image on dibond panel), 122 x 122 cm
About This 26
Every year the Royal Scottish Academy support hundreds of artists through awards, residencies, exhibitions and scholarships. Since the start of this century, the Academy has given over £5.5 million to artists, many of whom have used the financial support as a springboard for professional success and artistic acclaim.
Curated by Edward Summerton RSA and Amy Cameron, This 26 looks at the recent history of the RSA’s artist opportunity programme, presenting works by 26 artists, one selected for each year of this century so far.
Alicia Bruce & Rob Menlove, Documentation of Rob spraying ‘NATURE WILL TAKE REVENGE’ spraypainted photograph on dibond, 4 feet x 4 feet, Paradise, Menie, Aberdeenshire, April 2026
Menie Community Installation, This 26, RSA. The residents also collaborated with Alicia to plan the instal of the work.
‘The Greatest 36 Arse Holes Coming Soon’, 2024/2026, Artwork by Alicia Bruce and Valerie Banks, Mixed media (spray painted analogue photographic image on dibond panel)
Exhibition text
The residents of Menie in rural Aberdeenshire have been impacted by Donald Trump’s golf development since 2006. They have collaborated with socially engaged artist, photographer and activist Alicia Bruce for over 16 years. This long-term project includes the acclaimed photobook I Burn But I Am Not Consumed. Portraits of residents are held by National Galleries of Scotland and have been exhibited globally.
Large-scale Dibonds of analogue colour landscape photographs by Alicia, documenting the development’s second course which was advertised as ‘The Greatest 36 Holes’ were first shown as an outdoor exhibition at Format International Photography Festival in 2025, before being brought to the Menie community for the residents to respond to directly; writing, drawing and graffitiing their own words and feelings, turning the panels into large-scale placards. Menie residents David Milne, Michael Forbes, Moira Milne, Rob Menlove, Valerie Banks and supporter Rohan Beyts present new work made this year, adding to this ongoing collaboration. Iconoclastic and unruly, the work refuses polished advocacy in favour of raw testimony, standing as an act of resistance to bullying, capitalism, and the loss of beloved coastal dunes which were a site of special scientific interest.
Rob Menlove, Rohan Beyts, Valerie Banks and Alicia Bruce at Royal Scottish Academy opening, 11th September 2026
On Winning RSA Morton Award for ‘The Sim Project’ in 2014
“Winning the Morton Award in 2014 was a pivotal early-career moment. As Scotland’s only significant prize for lens-based media, it gave validation and a platform for making new work. Research started with a residency at the Scottish Centre for Simulation, Forth Valley Hospital, making a film and photographs including of Stan.D.Ardman, a mannequin used to train medical professionals. I had first visited with artist Beverley Hood and was captivated by the tension between real and unreal. A conversation with Leena Nammari, a previous Morton Award winner, pushed the project further; her advice was to travel. I visited simulation centres in New York, Montreal and Quebec City, photographing SimMom, unaware I was in early pregnancy. I then made film Sim Scenario with filmmaker Michael Prince at Forth Valley Hospital.
The project won the RSA Muirhead Purchase Award at the 2015 RSA Annual Exhibition, with Sim Man, NYSim, Bellevue Hospital, New York and Sim Scenario entering the collection. It featured on BBC news and in Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now (RSA, 2017). I extended it to France and Denmark.”
Also as part of RSA200 celebrations an image from ‘The Sim Project’ is currently exhibiting at PhotoDalkeith RSA200, Dalkeith Palace curated by Calum Colvin RSA and Julie Lawson. The film ‘Sim Scenario’ is touring Scotland as part of RSA200 Moving Image Programme curated by Ronnie Forbes RSA.
This 26: Contemporary Art and The Academy
Location: The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture
The Mound
Edinburgh
EH2 2TL
Dates: 12 September – 11 October 2026
Open: Mon to Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm
RSA Lower Galleries (Downstairs from Catherine Opie ‘To Be Seen’ exhibition at National Galleries of Scotland)
Free entry | Building accessibility
This 26 Exhibitors: Emilia Evans-Munton (2026), Madeleine Marg (2025), Ammna Sheikh (2024), Aqsa Arif (2023), Tayo Adekunle (2022), Hannah Lim (2021), Lola Stong-Brett (2020), Plum Cloutman (2019), Cassia Dodman (2018), Timo Aho (2017), Guy Titterington (2016), Paloma Proudfoot (2015), Alicia Bruce (2014), Kate Fahey (2013), Aimée Henderson (2012), Paul Rooney (2011), Rachel Maclean RSA (Elect) (2010), Erica Eyres (2009), Mary Ramsden (2008), Ellen Macdonald (2007), Lindsay Sekulowicz (2006), Heather Ross (2005), Mairi Gillies (2004), Sarah Forrest (2003), Craig Coulthard (2002), Emily Speed (2001)
Alicia Bruce & Mike Forbes,Documentation of Mike holding ‘NO MORE TRUMP LIES’ spraypainted photograph on dibond, 75X75cms outside his home Mill of Menie, Aberdeenshire, 2026. Mike’s brother Wattie and his family were long term tenant of Menie Coastguard cottages. All families of the coastguard cottages (pictured) were displaced in 2024 and the row of houses have since been renovated by Trump International Golf Links Scotland and rebranded at ‘The Great North Sea Residences’ holiday homes for golfers.