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August 2020 in Edinburgh isn’t shaping up like a normal year, but there are still plans in place to mark the festival season. Loop heads through Edinburgh to take a look, meeting some of the artists living and practising year-round in the vibrant city.

Loop Edinburgh Special features the award-winning poet Alycia Pirmohamed, co-founder of the Scottish BAME Writers Network, PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and shortlisted nominee for this year’s prestigious Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Canadian-born Alycia’s work explores themes of womanhood, cultural identity and a person’s place in the natural world, as she spends much of her time outside in the Scottish landscape which continues to inspire her work. She performs her work My Body is a Forest overlooking the city, which is the source of so many of the themes in her current work.

Loop also goes behind the scenes on the EIF’s artistic intervention – My Light Shines On – a flash of light, music and performance which is taking place across the city throughout the month.

Wezi Mhura is the driving force behind the Black Lives Matter Mural Trail, a series of installations popping up all over Scotland, created by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic artists living in Scotland. At a time when arts venues themselves are closed, their exterior walls are still able to be used to make powerfully charged statements of artistic expression. Loop talks to Wezi to hear why she felt she had to take action in organising this, and meets Nazley, one of the artists involved, as she installs a mural on the wall of a community venue in north Edinburgh.

Completing this special featuring the capital is an interview with Sarah Kwan - an artist, illustrator and signwriter based in Edinburgh. Her recent project East Meets West is a light-hearted and playful look at the similarities between Chinese and Scottish culture. Loop visits her studio to watch her at work and take a closer look at her colourful pieces, which aim to bring people together through humour and art.