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I approached Wigtown’s Festival Company with a public art proposal to celebrate its 20th anniversary as Scotland’s Book Town. The project saw me covering 11 buildings in the town square in custom-designed exterior wallpapers that tell the stories about the buildings they were applied to. As part of this, I collected community stories to inspire each of my designs, which were made using a mix of handmade and digital techniques, including printmaking and drawing to create repeating patterns.
The aim of 'If These Walls Could Talk' was to visibly transform the town square and give visitors and residents a good excuse to connect during the Book Festival of 2018. The project was featured on ITV, BBC Radio Scotland and the front page of The Scotsman. 'If These Walls Could Talk' is the winner of the 2019 AOI World Illustration Awards in the category of site specific / professional.



Photo credit 6,9,12,16 ColinTennant 
Photo credit 8,14,20 Colin Hattersley
Painted Mural for Melrose Primary School in the Scottish Borders, designed and painted in the summer of 2025 
Illustrated banner, bunting and animation commissioned by MADE in East Lothian, celebrating the history of their studio buildings in Haddington, Scotland, and the different craft activities that are run as part of their work with local communities.
Beachcomber was commissioned by Essential Edinburgh as part of a scheme to regenerate Edinburgh's Rose Street whilst celebrating the work of the so called 'Rose Street Poets' who used to gather in the pubs along Rose Street. George Mackay Brown was associated with this group of poets and is the author of the poem Beachcomber, the poem illustrated along the panels.
The design was initially created as a handmade paper cut before being transformed into large steel panels by Pentland Precision Engineering in Edinburgh. The work was shortlisted for the Adrian Henri Prize for Poetry in Art in 2013 and for the Association of Illustrators (AOI) Awards in 2014. 'Beachcomber' was supported by The Prince's Foundation, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature and British Telecom.


Photos by Marton Zsichla
I was awarded the Artist's Residency for the Wigtown Book Festival and Spring Fling 2013/2014 for which I carried out a project called 'Windows of Wigtown' with the aim to transfer the town's County Buildings into an 'open book' offering some insights of the town and it's people to the visitors of the Festival. The project which saw 15 windows covered in 111 single paper panels was also featured in the Telegraph where it was described with the following words

"There is so much to appreciate in and around Wigtown, and art features prominently wherever you go. One of the most impressive displays this year has been installed by this year’s artist in residence, Astrid Jaekel. Using paper cut outs, that are backlit as night falls, Jaekel has transformed the windows of the County Buildings into a charming narrative of Wigtown’s colourful community. Prior to the festival, Jaekel spent time here interviewing local residents and has used snippets of these conversations to form the basis of her artwork.  One anonymous conversation installed across three large windows reads: “He’s being terribly modest. He would lock the shop and take the shopping home for the elderly and then come back and open the shop. He is the community isn’t he? And as I say, everything he does, you only find out when you speak to others.” Only Jaekel will ever know who the “he” referred to is, but her installation is a quiet reminder of the generosity and humanity embodied by the people of Scotland’s National Book Town."


Photos by Andy Farrington and Colin Tennant


Copyright Astrid Jaekel 2026