Glasgow artist turns the birds outside his East End window into stunning Christmas light installation
Jamie Wardrop first developed the idea during the quiet summer after lockdown.
A Glasgow artist who spent lockdown rediscovering the city’s wildlife has turned the birds outside his East End window into a stunning Christmas light installation on Argyle Street.
Digital artist Jamie Wardrop, who says he has “signed a contract” with himself that all his work will focus on ecology, has transformed the historic Buck’s Head Building on Argyle Street with Let Glasgow Flourish: an animated projection celebrating the robins, chaffinches and redpolls that thrive in the city’s winter months.
The work spotlights the resilience of urban nature and the evergreens that sustain it, holly, ivy and pine, encouraging people to slow down and notice the wildlife.
Jamie, 39, is a self-taught digital artist with roots in theatre design.
He first developed the idea during the quiet summer after lockdown, when empty streets made it easier to see how much life was thriving in the city’s parks, back courts and woodland pockets.
Projected across five of the building’s windows, the piece brings winter birds into flight among looping greenery.
It forms part of Glasgow’s expanded Christmas Lighting Trail, which runs daily from 4pm until January 3.
Jamie said: “Once you start slowing down and noticing, you realise there’s loads of wildlife, it’s finding a way to survive. Immediately butterflies come in, birds start coming in.
“Even small actions have a real, material benefit. Helping nature cheers your heart, and it helps your state of mind too.”
“I took inspiration from Glasgow’s emblem of the bird and the tree, reimagining it as a call to care for our natural environment as the city marks its 850th year.
“Maybe it’s time for a renaissance of the environmental side of Glasgow. Even tiny actions matter: put out a feeder, plant something on your windowsill, look after a tree on your street. If we all do a small thing, it adds up.”
Artist hopes piece will encourage people to reconnect with nature
“I hope my work encourages people to reconnect with nature,” he added.
“Things feel quite heated on social media. Art can tickle you in a more sensory or childlike way, it softens the message.
“We all need that.”
The installation is one of five artist-led commissions created for this year’s expanded light trail across the city centre.
Every piece is designed to be family-friendly, safe and to be enjoyed by passers-by.
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The trail invites people to wander through the lit up streets, discover new artworks and enjoy a more imaginative kind of festive celebration.
For more information, visit: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/christmas-in-glasgow/christmas-lighting-trail/christmas-lighting-trail
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