How ‘gay' penguins at Edinburgh Zoo inspired me

The Herald Scotland

14-05-2025

There is a serious intent, though. His is a body of work whose aim is to challenge the idea that queerness is unnatural, and is inspired in part by the story of 'gay' penguins at Edinburgh Zoo. Those penguins aren't alone in forming single sex bonds. Crabs do it. Giraffes do it. Even elephants do it.
'These animals have all been identified scientifically as having same sex pairings, whether it's penguins or cats,' Mr Baldock explains to your correspondent on a walk round the show ahead of its official opening. 'I've made them as animals with a slightly mythological or folkloric element.'
Mr Baldock has titled the exhibition Wyrd. It's an old word and therefore a nod to the show's folkloric roots, hybrid animals being a staple of myths and legends the world over. But it also suits the show's author.
Jonathan Baldock working on a piece from Warm Inside (Image: Leon Foggitt) 'Weird is a word which has been used to describe me,' he laughs, standing surrounded by his works. 'So I liked reclaiming it and giving it power. I thought that was very beautiful.'
There's more to it than just that though. 'From a queer perspective we identify with the monsters,' he adds. 'They're creatures which are often outside the laws of society and they're rule breakers, so I have imbued these animals with these powers.'
Among the cast of animals populating the space are unicorns, a double-headed giraffe, two roosters and a pair of snails. Other creatures are of more indeterminate origin. Most are made from sack cloth, giving them a homespun look which suits the overall aesthetic and speaks to Mr Baldock's artistic practice: his other inspiration for Wyrd is the crafting and toy making manuals popularized in the 1970s and 1980s by companies such as Clothkits, and he says he has fond memories of watching television with his grandmother while practising crochet and macramé.
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The works themselves are circled around a central space, some of them large, others small. But let the eye travel and there are more surprises in store – such as a bird's nest perched on the high mantle-piece with two eggs inside. Many of the works, the eggs included, share the features of Mr Baldock and his partner, Rafał Zajko. Sometimes it's their ears or faces, other times their hands or feet.
When the exhibition ends in September, one of the pieces will be cast in bronze and given a permanent home at Jupiter Artland, host already to outdoor works by art world luminaries such as Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley, Jim Lambie, Rachel Maclean and Cornelia Parker. Let's hope it's the penguins – though the well-endowed unicorns would also make a nice talking point.
Wyrd is a new commission and this is its world premiere. But also on show in Jupiter Artland's Lower Steadings space is Mr Baldock's 2021 installation Warm Inside, a collection of cocoon-shaped baskets covered in wool woven by him and suspended from the ceiling. Weird in a different way, they contain more ceramic body parts, though offsetting the spookiness is the lavender seeds which fill some of them and scent the space. Or maybe not: lavender has long been used in funeral rites. So is this womb or tomb? You decide.
Wyrd and Warm Inside are at Jupiter Artland until September 28 and July 27 respectively.
Screen time
One of the lesser commented on aspects of film festivals is that the lucky attendees are often seeing films which are going to be in cinemas in a few weeks anyway. In the most egregious examples it can be a matter of days between a festival 'premiere' and a massive multiplex roll-out. It's not commented on because nobody likes to shatter the illusion of the film festival as a rarefied space for consideration of the cinematic arts.
Conversely, however, it's often the case that films with no distribution deal or no slated release date are shown at festivals simply because someone likes them. It's always heartening when you see such a film and love it – doubly so when it does finally make it into cinemas. Lollipop was such a film for me. I saw it at the 2024 Edinburgh International Film Festival and was blown away. 'Part howl of rage, part redemption song,' was the opening line of my review for The Herald.
Lollipop stars Posy Sterling as a young single mother just out of prison and trying to rebuild her life and her relationships with her two young children – not easy in the Catch-22 hell which is the UK's social work system. Written and directed by Daisy-May Cooper, whose own family experienced homelessness, it's an absolute doozie and certainly the best film Ken Loach never made. And now to the point: it's being released in cinemas on June 13. Do watch it.
Read my lollipop review here
And finally
Music, dance, theatre and Britpop come under the scrutiny of The Herald's arts critics this week. Mary Brennan leads the charge with a five star review of Songs Of The Wayfarer at the Tramway in Glasgow. Part of Dance International Glasgow 2025, a Tramway-curated festival of cutting-edge contemporary dance, it was performed by disabled choreographer and singer Claire Cunningham to the 1883 song cycle by composer Gustav Mahler which lends it its title. Read it here
Meanwhile it was music by Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Rachmaninov which Keith Bruce heard performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, though the programme's main event was the Scottish premiere of a new trumpet concerto by Scottish composer Helen Grime. Read it here
Slightly louder and generally trumpet free was a 30th anniversary celebration by Supergrass of their first album, I Should Coco. That was at a Barrowland which, for once, did not quite rise to the occasion, says Gabriel McKay. Click here to read
Finally to theatre, and Neil Cooper was in his usual seat(s) for a play which is much admired in Scotland – Dario Fo's Mistero Buffo, here in a new Scots translation – and another, LIFE, which is now touring after a successful run at last year's Fringe. Both one-person shows, they were at Òran Mór in Glasgow and Edinburgh's Studio space respectively.
Read our Mistero Buffo review
Read our LIFE review