OLD photo film and chemicals worth £3000 have been donated to a Glasgow gallery - by city scientists.

The lab team at Glasgow Caledonian University no longer need the materials, which were used to separate and identify proteins, but rather than throw them out they decided to hand them over to Street Level Photoworks.

Thirty litres of fixing and developing chemicals and 29 boxes of photographic paper are now being used in a community teaching darkroom at the Trongate gallery, which is one of only two photography centres in Scotland providing analogue and digital facilities to a broad range of people.

Tiu Makkonen, Street Level’s facility assistant (Culture Collective), said: “This sizeable donation of black and white darkroom paper and chemistry comes at a great time.

“We are currently delivering a busy programme of creative photography projects to a broad range of community groups and individuals through the Culture Collective initiative - a network of 26 participatory arts projects across Scotland, shaped by local communities alongside artists and creative organisations and funded by Creative Scotland. 

“A donation such as this means we can share the joy of analogue photography more widely to the communities we welcome through our doors.”

GCU’s Dr David Welsh said: “I am absolutely delighted that laboratory consumables which can no longer be used in the department are going to a very worthy cause. It’s a fantastic initiative led by our technician Chris, and it’s great to see that our Common Good mission is at the forefront of our staff’s thoughts.

“It is good to know that these expensive items will not be going to waste but will be used to serve others in the community.”