‘A Tug of a Thread’ explores line and form through the visual language of tartan. The painting reflects a shared experience of Scotland, fostering connection, community and identity. Such experiences can be deeply resonant, shaping empathy and a sense of belonging to something larger than oneself.
Tartan, one of Scotland’s most recognised symbols, carries its origins in medieval Gaelic culture. While rooted in history, it remains dynamic, continually adapting within contemporary contexts. This duality allows it to operate as both cultural marker and universal language, capable of bridging differences in background, language and personal history.
The title suggests both tension and continuity, drawing on the emotional pull of place. This sense of longing echoes in Robert Burns’ ‘My Heart’s in the Highlands’, where identity is tethered to landscape through an intangible, enduring thread.
The painting is constructed through successive transparent layers, building a surface in which bold linear structures emerge and recede. These lines reference the woven logic of cloth while introducing shifts, disruptions and movement. The grid becomes both structure and metaphor—holding together fragments of history, memory and lived experience.
Through the interplay of layering and line, the work creates a dialogue between past and present. It offers a meditation on transformation: how cultural forms persist, adapt and remain meaningful over time, while an underlying thread continues to connect across generations.
- the artist
Melanie Berman graduated from the University for the Creative Arts with a BA in Painting (2008), and from Berkshire College of Art (1980) with a BA in Fashion Design. Most recently she exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy (2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025) and the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, London (2019, 2021, 2022, 2024). Her work also featured in the Royal Academy Calendar 2021. She has Exhibited at the Lido in Margate 2019, Wells Art Contemporary Exhibition in 2021, Beep Painting Prize Biennial Wales 2022, 2024 and the Bankley Open Exhibition in 2022 RHA selected 2023 The Ballinglen Art Foundation Biennial 2023/24 Discerning Eye -Mall Gallery London 2023 (invited). Winner of the Jacksons Art Prize: Judges Choice Huge Barclay Award 2024. Long listed Contemporary British Painting 2024 Los Angeles Art Fair. Noho Gallery London 2025 VOA awards Long listed 2025 Amelia Museum art Gallery 2025 - Hardline Painting exhibition Seyðisfjörður Iceland, Los Angeles Art fair 2025 Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong to be highlighted artist at the British Pavillion May 2026.