Anneleen Lindsay Photography

15/04/2026

From Clydebank to the South Bank… ‘Still Standing’.

In 1939 Clydebank, 5 year old neighbours Sheila & Isa were told to ensure they always kept holding hands & not to talk to strangers, as they set off on their walk to school together on their own. They did the walk daily, carrying their gas masks on their small shoulders as WW2 broke out. At school they were told that in case of an air raid siren they should hide under the desks. At home, as neighbours, they shared an air raid shelter.

In March 1941 the majority of the town was flattened & over 1200 people were killed in the devastating Clydebank Blitz. Sheila & Isa survived & remained friends for many years, before they lost touch for a while when life took them in different directions. Incredibly, they were reunited in their 90’s at the care home where I met them. They were giggling as they reminisced about their childhood & looked at old photographs & cultural artefacts such as Red Cross helmets, huge bullets, gas masks & newspaper cuttings. They were inseparable once again. I asked if I could come back to photograph them, holding hands, with the Clydebank Titan, the iconic crane which has loomed over the industrial town since the Victorian era. Like them, it also survived the Blitz.

For our portrait session, we just had to take a few steps from the care home, which is part of a new development on reclaimed land where factories had once stood before the Blitz. The wide, brand new road reminded me again of ‘s ‘Freedom Road’ poem, commissioned for the project. I’d also arranged with for 2 girls from a local primary school involved with Our Freedom to join us for the photograph, referencing Sheila & Isa’s childhood walks. It was drizzly & they couldn’t stand for very long, so it was a swift 15 minute shoot, but we also explored their past roles as Gala Queens… More of Sheila and Isa to come!

The Our Freedom exhibition opened at Southbank Centre last month & is now touring the UK - link in bio. Thanks to Future Arts Centres & Open Eye Gallery for the commission. It was amazing to travel across Scotland discovering unique stories of people & landscapes.

11/04/2026

A peek behind the scenes at the shiny new fly system at the King’s Theatre - these are very new as yet unseen photographs from my visit last week. It’s not just upgraded ropes and bars - there’s a whole new grid system and the fly tower has been significantly heightened above the pre-existing roof. If you scroll through the images you’ll see a couple of the new fly tower under construction (with Edinburgh Castle in the background) and then also some of my pictures from 2022 of the old wooden grid (in the rafters above the stage) and the old (much narrower) fly floors. The changes are suitably dramatic.

The redesign of the system was by working with - the overall construction aspect of the renovation project has been overseen by for Capital Theatres - Festival Theatre, King's Theatre & The Studio

The combination of the 4.5m extra height new system, with the brand new de-raked stage will allow the King’s Theatre to host larger modern productions, including dance shows.

I have so many more photographs to share, both from the theatre pre-renovation & the ongoing journey of its transformation.

All photographs are copyright Anneleen Lindsay Anneleen Lindsay 2022-2026 - please contact me for press licensing and any other usage.

09/04/2026

On the TV for the 2nd time this week, last night on some of my photographs of the King’s Theatre were shown, as excitement builds in the final months before its reopening. The 2nd image is by Mike Hume who is a great supporter of the King’s!

4 1/2 years ago I began documenting the King’s Theatre in the days leading up to its closure, not knowing at that point if the doors would ever reopen! I have been photographing it through the dramatic journey since then: the ultimate get-out, whilst waiting for the money to arrive; followed by documenting the extensive renovations which are ongoing but due to be completed and reopening later this year. What a privilege to document the transformation! I’m in there at least once a month and have seen so many dramatic changes. I will share some photographs from my latest visit last Friday very soon… keep a look out 🎭

06/04/2026

On the telly! 📺
Some of my photographs of the King’s Theatre were on the news today and on the website. The buzz is growing as the renovations get closer to completion. It’s a magnificent building and it means so much to people in Edinburgh - it holds so many personal memories and the King’s panto is an annual festive tradition for many families, going back decades. It is going to be really exciting to see the doors open to the public again! I’ve been in a privileged position to see the entire process of the renovations - accompanied by - and was in again on Friday. I have a huge new bunch of images to edit - and so much has happened already since these ones were made! Things are moving on so rapidly. I will share some more very soon.

03/04/2026

I came out of my monthly photography visit to the King’s Theatre today to a text saying that some of my pictures of it are in today’s - fortuitous timing for a social media post! There are also a couple of great ones by and

It was once again amazing to see how much has changed since last month’s visit. The use of colour in parts of the building was exciting me - as was viewing the walls that some of my photographs will be displayed on when it reopens.

I was up in the new follow spot gallery today which gave a great view of the whole auditorium and stage. I was also in the bars which are very close to completion and bigger than they were. The brand new cafe now has a stylish wooden counter, and carpets and flooring have been laid in several parts of the building. And so much more! It’s been a long journey to this point and the anticipation for the re-opening continues to mount. Not too much longer to wait.

01/04/2026

I’m one of 22 photographers currently exhibiting ‘Our Freedom: Then and Now’ We had the opening last week & the exhibition will be touring the country. We were invited by & to visually reflect upon the ways in which communities, arts centres & libraries across the land responded to the question of what freedom means to us. It was a joy of a commission - we were given creative freedom to experiment & explore the themes, in collaboration with our allocated venues to make work that was very place specific. The opportunity to meet a huge range of people, hear their personal histories & uncovered the stories of the local landscapes - to connect people and place and find ways to spotlight them via my creative vision - is a major part of why I love photography. So this type of socially engaged project, with some time and space to visit, research, reflect and revisit, was an ideal scenario.

It’s an incredible feeling to see some of my work printed large on the windows of the Royal Festival Hall & Queen Elizabeth Hall, right on the South Bank of the Thames. It felt a bit surreal to see work made in small industrial towns on the West Coast of Scotland next to the London Eye & Millenium Bridge!

It was also really special to exhibit alongside some close friends from & to spend time with them & meeting the other photographers. The amazing range of approaches & styles in the exhibition show the value of Open Eye’s approach to encourage individual expression from each photographer. Yet there’s a wonderful cohesion across the images as they reflect the ways in which people from very varied backgrounds, cultures & ages, from the South of England to the Western Isles, celebrated the precious value of freedom. There was both joy and thoughtful reflections from the communities which has been communicated so vibrantly & sensitively. It’s an honour to exhibit alongside such a fantastic group of photographers.

It’s free to view, & up at the Southbank for another few weeks - or if you’re not in London, see the ourfreedom.org.uk website for the online exhibition (which has a lot more photographs!)

31/03/2026

Holding a mirror to power (I think it’s an Ikea one)

Seen opposite Holyrood today.

Insert joke about it being no reflection on the state of politics in Scotland… or something.

27/03/2026

‘Freedom Road’ - another of my photographs currently being exhibited at the as part of the project, commissioned by &

I named this photograph ‘Freedom Road’ after the poem, as I felt it looked like was walking into the sky, free from earthly constraints. The sense of space around him felt like freedom to me.

At the beginning of the project, Simon Armitage was commissioned to write a poem, which has been in my mind over the past several months whilst working on the photography commission. It really set the tone for my approach to it, as I wanted to get a sense of freedom as both an ongoing journey and being a bit nebulous in definition at the same time as holding specific associations.

It felt fitting that the print was positioned towards the sky - and quite incredible to see it in such a location, surrounded by the huge expanse of the Southbank of the Thames. Central London feels a world away from Girvan Harbour where I met Simon Lamb who was working with to create ‘Oor Freedom Song’ with local children - which is a thing of unfiltered beauty. It was great to see Fraser from the McKechnie Institute in Girvan at the opening the other night, who helped with this shoot. The touring exhibition will be going there in the summer.

Thanks to Alex, Jim and at Open Eye for being so helpful in facilitating this project - an amazing team and organisation to work with.

What a privilege to be involved.

26/03/2026

Debbie, from Mothers Against Genocide, photographed at Motherwell Library.

launched last night at the I am particularly pleased that my portrait of was selected for the display alongside the Riverside Terrace, because what (who she’s a founding member of) are campaigning for is the right to freedom and peace for ALL people. The threat to freedom is a very current issue & problem as across the world it is under threat from increasingly authoritarian governments.

Everybody deserves to be free - including the mothers and children - and men and all people - of Palestine. Including the protestors in this country.

Mothers have often been at the forefront of defending the freedom of the future, women have often led solidarity movements. It was poignant to attend a talk hosted by my Our Freedom venue partner, Motherwell and Coatbridge libraries, about the Leningrad album. In the 1940s, the women of Airdrie heard about the terrible conditions that the people of Leningrad were living under as they were under siege for several years. Food, aid & electricity were cut off. They boiled bone buttons to make broth to eat. Many were killed or died of starvation. They lived among ruins and in constant fear of awful violence. Obviously this reminded me instantly of the ongoing g£nO cide in Palestine (& spreading). The 1940s women of North Lanarkshire mobilised: fundraised, gathered signatures and messages, pictures and stories of Scotland and created an album of encouragement and solidarity - to the women of Leningrad, who were overwhelmed & moved by their empathy and reciprocated by creating their own album to send back to Scotland. It struck me how similar this community organising was to what are doing now. And Debbie actually comes from Airdrie!

Freedom from war.

Freedom of speech.

Freedom to protest.

Nobody is free until we are all free.

Free Palestine.

25/03/2026

Delighted to have one of my portraits of Sheila as Gala Queen in & in this feature on the website. Tonight is the opening of the Our Freedom Then and Now exhibition, ahead of its national tour. The article in Aesthetica is a fantastic, thoughtful interview with of who along with commissioned 22 photographers to reflect on the theme of freedom, in collaboration with a programme of events by community arts centres & libraries across the UK. It has been an incredibly inspiring and varied project to work on and we have been encouraged to have great creative freedom in it ourselves as photographers. Thanks also to Alex at Open Eye for all her help!

This photo of Sheila was in front of the Clydebank Titan crane which dominated the skyline for miles around, significant that it remained standing after the Clydebank Blitz which flattened much of the area. Sheila kindly agreed to reprise her role as a Gala Queen for the local Singer factory’s annual gala event. I brought along the ‘cape’ & crown having seen the genuine ones in the Clydebank Library museum on my research visit. It’s a great new museum, packed with info and beautifully designed by . The staff at were so helpful & Sheila was so much fun. Sadly I just found out that she has recently passed away. She was in her mid 90s & vividly remembered the Blitz and told me so many stories. I will share more in other posts as I’m also exhibiting other photographs of her and her childhood friend Isa.

21/03/2026

Our ‘Our Freedom: Then and Now’ exhibition is kicking off at The Southbank Centre, including some of my photographs from travelling around Scotland last year, visiting different communities to find out what freedom means to them.

Thank you to Open Eye Gallery and Future Arts Centres for the amazing commission. I can’t wait to see the photographs on display in London next week!

Our Freedom: Then and Now begins at the UK’s largest arts centre, Southbank Centre , before touring the country.

22 photographers, 18 venues, 10,000 local contributors, 530,000 in person audience members, 80 years of freedom reflected in the communities of today.

For full details visit: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/our-freedom-then-and-now/

Image by Anneleen Lindsay Photography with West Dunbartonshire Council, Clydebank

21/03/2026

Our Freedom: Then and Now begins at the UK’s largest arts centre, Southbank Centre , before touring the country.

22 photographers, 18 venues, 10,000 local contributors, 530,000 in person audience members, 80 years of freedom reflected in the communities of today.

For full details visit: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/our-freedom-then-and-now/

Image by Anneleen Lindsay Photography with West Dunbartonshire Council, Clydebank