Paul Duke

“No Ruined Stone” by Scottish photographer Paul Duke offers a timely and far-reaching insight into a fractured and deprived housing estate in Edinburgh. Returning to Muirhouse — the backdrop to Irvine Welsh’s novel “Trainspotting“ — Duke’s documentary and poetical photographs lead us through the estate he grew up in. Although circumspect questions of social inequity are raised in the book the underlying narrative is about fighting spirit, dignity and hope of the residents living there today.

Paul Duke was born and educated in Edinburgh. He gained a Master of Arts degree with distinction from the Royal College of Art in 1989. As well as exhibiting in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery he has shown in the Scottish Parliament and was included in the National Galleries of Scotland landmark exhibition “Light from the Dark Room” in 1995. “No Ruined Stone” is his second publication after “At Sea”, published in 2013. The text is written by Martin Barnes, senior curator of photography, Victoria & Albert Museum, London.