Residing within the microcosm of Aberdeen University, marked through its visual inconsistency, the Powis Gates. Constructed off the wealth of slavery, through coffee plantations in Jamaica owned by the Leslie family, the Gates constitute a violent past, one of extraction and exploitation. Formally referencing Turkish Minaret architecture, the Gates in a previously life, marked the entrance to the Leslie estate, radiating positions of power and grandeur. Now “memorialised” through a university typology the Gates are maintained, rigorously, with little context given to their violent past.
Finding refuge through acts, become the poetry examined throughout this Thesis. Flight of the Paraffin Budgie: A North Sea Chronicle by John F. Fyvie and The Violence of Identity by Noon Abdelrazig and Helen Love, three local artist and poets that expose their trauma through creative practice. Considering motifs such as form, rhythm, Metaphor and experience the thesis examined “violent” poetry to find possible architectural positions that may position itself to “care” for sites or bodies complicated by violence.
By affording a growth of material and spatial language, aimed at reconciling violent sites. This thesis aims to re-imagine the Powis Gates, through “Acts” materialised by poetry and forms of creative practice that engage with themes of violence. Thereby positioning the Powis Gates as protagonists in the journey towards reconciliation.
