A Big Pink Door: Meet the Motherwell artist creating public art installations made to be destroyed

Two years ago a big pink door was placed anonymously and without note in North Motherwell, within seven and a half hours it was knocked to the ground - but this was all according to the artist’s plan.

Meet Leah McDonald, the 26-year-old Motherwell artist creating art made to be destroyed. A Big Pink Door was part public art installation, part social experiment, the ethos of the piece was to see how people interact with art in public spaces.

A student of Sculpture and Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art, McDonald knew that the meticulously hand-crafted free-standing door was more than likely going to be destroyed.

We spoke with the artist about the piece and the thought process that went into it, Leah McDonald said: “A Big Pink Door was created for an assignment in uni, it was all about art within certain public spaces and how people interact with it.

“I put a lot of thought into it, I knew I wanted it to be in Motherwell - I know that we have very little art or representation of artists here, especially when you compare it to more rural towns.

“So I thought, let’s bring some art to Motherwell. I wanted it to be a basic everyday object that people interact with, taking it from its normal space and placing it somewhere else.

“I thoroughly believe that art can change lives, we have a lot of problems here in Motherwell like addiction, but I know that art can be a gateway to change, and that if we can get young people on board we can start the long process of bringing art to the community.”

Leah installed the public art installation on a green patch just off Logan’s Road in North Motherwell at around midnight back in 2022. It was placed so late to give the art installation an ‘element of surprise’ - sparking curiosity and conversation in the community.

She kept a close eye on the public exhibition overnight, checking in as people began to interact with the installation in a myriad of different ways.

Some people would stop and stare, others would walk by barely noticing, whereas others saw it as a canvas. By the time Leah checked up on the exhibition in the morning, a large muddy footprint was branded on the bright pink door.

A short while later, it was knocked to the ground, where it remained. Commenting on public interaction with the exhibition, Leah said: ”I knew it was going to be destroyed, honestly I had high hopes it would be destroyed as it would make for good work.

“A lot of people tried to express their sympathies, saying how bad it was that it was destroyed so quickly. But honestly, I was asking for it, relying on it to be destroyed even.

“There was loads of discussion about colour or signage, maybe marking it as a memorial of some sort, but I’m not really one for giving instructions in art - I like to keep it to the bare minimum.”

Leah McDonald currently has an exhibition at Glasgow Art Club on Bath Street - there you can see some of her more recent works, also in keeping with the absurdist style of ‘A Big Pink Door’.

Some more recent pieces by Leah include ‘Icon’ - a Little Tikes Cosy Coupe painted matte black - ‘Boobies’ - a massive sculpture of the number ‘8008125’ commonly written on calculators to spell out a naughty word - and ‘I Farted’ - an oversized pink foam finger with ‘I Farted’ printed on in yellow.

Leah’s art is all about connecting with her community on the same level, by twisting working class iconography and objects into something engaging - something that’ll start conversations and make people laugh, or just interact with art in any way, whether they realise it or not.

Leah told us more about her approach to art and the community, she said: “I like making work that is quite humorous or juvenile in a way - stuff that touches on childhood and playfulness while disrupting standards set by the art world.

“I’m all about finding a space for art in the community and levelling it with people - rather than it being something that sits above people. I want to make my artwork as accessible and relatable to as many people as possible.

“In an area like Motherwell that is mostly working class - art is really overlooked. Most people wouldn’t consider themselves an artist or a fan of art, but I’m really passionate about bringing art to people.

“I think art is so beneficial to your life, we’re all surrounded by it and we don’t even realise it. For people in working class areas facing challenges like mental health issues, art is a great way of expressing yourself and releasing that energy we all have pent up.

“Right now we have a long way to go when it comes to understanding what public art is. Regardless, I think it’s great to see people engage with art no matter how they do it.

“I see the people that destroyed A Big Pink Door as fellow artists - they helped complete the piece.”

Currently Leah is preparing to go into her final year at the Glasgow School of Art to receive her degree in Sculpture and Environmental Art. She’s also trying to find a home for the Cosy Coupe, after the artist is able to find funding to have it cast in bronze alongside a space for a public installation.

You can follow the Motherwell artist's journey as she continues her mission to bring art to working class towns across Scotland - alongside future exhibitions, by clicking here to follow her art page on Instagram.

Leah also encourages feedback on her work - so if you're interested in art in working class areas, absurdist work that challenges the status quo, or an aspiring artist hoping to learn more about her process - get in touch with the artist on Instagram.