22nd October – 3rd November 2026

Take Me To Your Bedroom

We think of bedrooms as private, even intimate spaces, not the sort of place into which strangers are usually invited. In reality, bedrooms are rarely salacious. They are mostly just comfortable and practical, with a few personal touches, such as photographs of family and items rich with memories. These bedroom portraits share details of people’s lives, their interests, their pasts, their lineage, their struggles, their traumas, their comforts, their rituals. And, yes, sometimes their secrets. We live our lives and think them mundane, not noticing how unique, and often odd, they truly are.

On Reflection

This year’s theme for the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival is especially appropriate for photography, which is the art most literally closest to “reflection”. It is the capture of light reflected from a subject, turned into a two-dimensional image. And we have been literal in a few instances where mirrors have featured in our work. But more importantly, we have literally photographed people who have reflected on their past and present mental states. Some have reflected on their addictions, to gambling or to alcohol. Others have reflected on the disabling nature of their mental state, whether paralysis of action caused by too many demands or by depression brought on by obsessing over love or just “over thinking”.

“Since childhood I knew that I was an artist. The visual world always held a great appeal for me. It was just a natural progression for me to explore other mediums. I think from my early twenties I knew that I would be a photographer. Self taught, with the help of some good photography friends, my skills improved. I never thought photography was about having good gear, although it does help – If you can afford it! Just an eye and and a willingness to get better is all you really need. To me, the camera is like an instrument. If you practice long enough you can see the image in your minds eye, and know what to do to capture it.”

People are intriguing. Portraiture is my thing

— Anastazia Grace Hart

“I was an archaeologist and a publisher or archaeology and history books for thirty years. I then became a furniture designer and maker. A decade ago I returned to an earlier passion: photography. My uncle was a famous Canadian photographer. He and my father learned photography from their father. My father, in turn, taught his two sons and built a darkroom in our basement. I was given a camera for my graduation from high school in 1977. From then until now, black and white photography has been my preference. Street photography and documentary photography have inspired me, although I am not especially comfortable doing it. My practice, especially as done for this exhibition, has changed dramatically. It had too, working with Anastazia! Now I am keen on staged imagery, but only if the fiction represents a truth!”

–Ross Samson

Take Me To Your Bedroom/On Reflection runs at Six Foot Gallery until 3rd November.