Visual Arts Scotland / Royal Scottish Academy - ‘The Thread that Pulls’

5th December - 2nd January 2026

‘‘The Thread That Pulls –  “Happiness is temporary but interest is continuous.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Certain things tug at us over time. The thread is not a fixed object but a force: a line of curiosity, connection, or compulsion that loops through days, years, and even generations. It draws us back, quietly insistent, shaping the way we see and make.

Bringing together artists and makers across disciplines, The Thread That Pulls explores the enduring nature of attention. Works in the exhibition might trace a long-held preoccupation with a place, material, or idea; reveal the repeated gesture of a hand in craft; or unravel a personal or collective narrative that refuses to be forgotten.

The exhibition considers the thread both literally and metaphorically: as fibre and stitch; as the drawn line; as the invisible tether between people, objects, and memory. It asks: what makes us return to certain subjects again and again? How does sustained interest transform into form, texture, and meaning?

In a world of short attention spans and fleeting trends, The Thread That Pulls celebrates slow, sustained looking, the kind of engagement that resists completion and instead deepens with time.’’