An art student’s efforts to capture the modern face of Dundee will go on display at this year’s Duncan of Jordanstone degree show.
Alana Hay, 21, set up stall in the City Square and offered free portraits to passers-by in a bid to capture the people who make up 21st century Dundee.
She captured a diverse range of people, including snow-loving Saudi Arabians, Serbian exiles, Mormon missionaries and people battling back from drug addiction and homelessness.
Alana’s Happenstance project is one of 300 exhibits at this year’s degree show, which opens to the public on May 18.
Happenstance features 20 of the portraits completed by Alana, who offered the free sketches in return for 10 minutes of conversation and a photograph.
Participants were able to take her initial sketches home while she used the photographs she took to create the etched portraits for her degree show project.
The models ranged in age from 15 months to 60 years old and came from seven different countries – Nigeria, Poland, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the US and the UK.
Alana has invited them all to visit the exhibition and see the finished work for themselves
She said: “I’d really like to know what they think when they come face to face with their portrait.
“Dundee is a vibrant city full of lots of interesting people and I wanted to know more about their stories.
“My work reflects the diversity of ethnicities, personalities and appearances that make up this city. I deliberately didn’t ‘sell’ what I was doing. There was a sign explaining what I was doing and it was entirely up to people if they took part or not.
“The project is entitled ‘Happenstance’ to reflect the chance situation of each encounter I had with a member of the public.
“Each conversation I engaged in was a rare and rewarding opportunity to connect with people I otherwise would never have met. I want my work to reflect Dundee as a city and offer a glimpse into the lives of the strangers that we live alongside.”
Alana added: “Historically, the only people who had their own portraits were rich and important but I wanted to change this by creating portraits of the average citizen.
“The people were incredible and so interesting. Everyone was at different stages of their lives.
“In just 10 minutes I learned so much about them. A nine-year-old Saudi Arabian boy told me he preferred Scotland to anywhere else he had lived because of the snow.
“One person told me how one of the things they were most excited about not being homeless anymore, was having walls to hang art on. One discussed their love for horses, another their son’s upcoming wedding.”
Alana , who is from Muir of Ord, near Dingwall, is now set to embark on a postgraduate teaching degree.
The Degree Show will run until May 26.
Last year’s exhibition attracted a record attendance of 16,000 people.
