Seasons at the Mitchell

Seasons at the Mitchell is a series of four mixed-media collage works by Glasgow-based collage artist and PhD researcher Yujia Flavia Jin, developed through her long-term engagement with the Mitchell Library during her doctoral years.

Structured around the cycle of the seasons, the collages reflect how a familiar public space can shift through time, atmosphere, memory, and repeated return. Each work explores a different seasonal mood through colour, texture, layering, and fragmented imagery, tracing the emotional rhythms of inhabiting the same space across several years.

Central to all four collages is the recurring presence of female figures drawn from the works of Alphonse Mucha. These figures are physically cut from their original contexts and relocated into the compositions, where they move between ornament, architecture, and symbolic presence. Their repetition across the series resonates with the figure of Minerva, the Roman goddess of literature, represented by the statue atop the Mitchell Library dome, affectionately known as “Mrs Mitchell”.

Many of the materials used in the collages originate from the Mitchell Library itself, including promotional images, pamphlets, and older printed matter generously provided by library staff. Through this process, the library enters the works both visually and materially, becoming part of the collages’ physical structure as well as their subject matter.

Alongside the exhibition, the project also includes a public collage workshop encouraging participants to reflect on their own relationships with libraries, archives, and shared cultural spaces through creative practice.

At its heart, Seasons at the Mitchell is a gesture of gratitude towards the Mitchell Library and the community that sustains it, recognising the quiet importance of public spaces that provide continuity, structure, and a sense of belonging over time.

Artist’s Bio

Yujia Flavia Jin is a collage artist and PhD researcher based in Glasgow. Her work uses archival fragments, printed materials, and mixed-media collage to explore memory, repetition, and experiences of place. “Seasons at the Mitchell” developed through her long-term engagement with the Mitchell Library during her doctoral years at the University of Glasgow.

Location

Exhibition space at Granville Street entrance.