Wendy McMurdo | The Digital Mirror

Working at the forefront of developments in digital photography, Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror, charts 20-years of ground-breaking work by this pioneering photographer. McMurdo has blazed a trail in the experimental use of computers and digital tools in photography from the early days of computer-based learning in schools to the growth of the internet and networked gaming. Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror comes at a time when the digital landscape is changing faster than ever before, with technology offering limitless possibilities and scope for imaginative learning. With children spending more and more time online, the exhibition offers a fascinating insight into the impact of technology on learning and play in childhood. 
Alongside McMurdo’s work, including a newly configured moving image projection, visitors will discover a range of objects that may be familiar. Find items selected from museums including early 20th century children’s toys, an Eduardo Paolozzi sculpture and the painting Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch (The Skating Minister) by Henry Raeburn. Explore why these artworks have influenced McMurdo's work and what this has to do with how we learn and access culture. 
Over the last 30 years, Wendy McMurdo has made a key contribution to Scotland’s international reputation as a centre for contemporary art. This exhibition coincides with the bicentenary year of the Royal Scottish Academy to which McMurdo was the first woman photographer to be elected.’

Retrieved: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/wendy-mcmurdo-digital-mirror

Description: A comprehensive survey show including over 40 works.

Funders: Government Indemnity Scheme, Scottish Government /Peoples Lottery.
Creative Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture, Elizabeth Lornie Charitable Trust.

Public outreach:
A free publication was produced to mark the exhibition with commissioned essays by Professor David Hopkins and Professor Patricia Allmer and seventeen illustrations. Colour, 12 pages.
Both commissioned essays also available online: David Hopkins: ‘Mediumistic Beings: Wendy McMurdo’s Photographs of children’: https://tinyurl.com/2s42vc2y Patricia Allmer – ‘Imprints Wendy McMurdo’s Photographs’: https://tinyurl.com/yvzme9b2

An Opening talk (a Q & A with Wendy McMurdo & Susan Bright) on Fri 29th May 2026 was held at the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre and online. Sold out (350 capacity with additional capacity online). Recording available here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Y9JV_9ydTIA?si=VFbvSqwovd7EGrkK

Exhibition audio guide available here: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/wendy-mcmurdo-digital-mirror#audio-tour

Learning & Outreach events relating to the exhibition: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/wendy-mcmurdo-digital-mirror#related-events

A variety of tours (curator’s tour, patrons tour, friends tour) were scheduled throughout the run of the exhibition. An extensive schools and education programme (workshops, lectures, talks) was developed for teachers and young people to run alongside the exhibition.