Image: Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
Jupiter Artland in Edinburgh will present 'In Pride, In Piety, In Vigilance' by Irish artist and performer Sgàire Wood in the Steadings Gallery from 14 August to 18 October 2026. The exhibition is described by the organisation as a new commission that brings together Wood’s practice in performance, sculpture and installation, and it will open a week before the one-night-only Jupiter Rising x EAF event curated by the artist.
The exhibition uses heraldic symbolism and pop-culture iconography to examine heritage, tradition and violence, with a particular focus on the pressures created by rising fascism. Jupiter Artland says the work positions heraldic “beasts” as representations of precarity and oppression, while drawing attention to the cultural connotations of colour, form and material. Large-scale sculpture is central to the presentation, and the gallery text says the work places the grave and the abject alongside the glamorous, humorous and sensual.
Wood’s practice is rooted in drag, fashion photography and multi-artform nightlife scenes, according to Jupiter Artland. The organisation also says she is known for humorous performance work combining dance, make-up and costume design. In the exhibition text, Jupiter Artland links those strands to a wider concern with the layers of meaning behind everyday images, visual performances of identity, pop-cultural symbolism, authenticity and artifice.
The project also draws on Wood’s upbringing in the North of Ireland. Jupiter Artland says she uses the iconography of sectarianism to strip the relationship between image and ideology to its core, exploring how common signs and symbols can become associated with violence. The exhibition text frames 'In Pride, In Piety, In Vigilance' as a “frank but hopeful” response to current political urgencies, while leaving room for humour, solidarity and transcendence.
Alongside the exhibition, Wood will curate Jupiter Rising x EAF 2026, which returns on Saturday 22 August. Jupiter Artland describes the event as a one-night festival of experimental music, performance and “queer artistic chaos,” taking place across the site’s landscape. The programme includes an extended 'Sgàiraoke' set, Wood’s hybrid of performance art and karaoke, which Jupiter Artland says has been a much-loved feature of Jupiter Rising since the early days of the festival.
The festival listing also names performers including Plantainchipps, Junglehussi, Princessa Mangione III, Poisonous Relationship, Holly O’Brien, Desert Kingsnake, NAAFI and Del LaGrace Volcano. Jupiter Artland says first-phase tickets for the festival were priced at £20, with return coach travel available from Edinburgh and Glasgow, though the site’s ticket page now lists later phases and transport options separately. For the exhibition itself, 'In Pride, In Piety, In Vigilance' runs in the Steadings Gallery from 14 August to 18 October 2026.
