David Anthony Morrison
Background
This tribute to David Anthony Morrison forms part of the ArtRoots Container Project.
David Anthony Morrison
29 May 1950 - 11 August 2024
by Jai Adami
I was asked to write a short article about David who led a big life and so there is much that could be said about his adventures, even just the ones I know about, so quite a challenge!
Kind and mischievous
However it is easy to describe David. A private, very kind, modest person, quietly spoken, very intelligent and knowledgeable. Very creative with a photographic memory. Quietly spoken but a talker! Last but not least, very mischievous and I think the mural by Shona Hardie at the Earth in Common Croft has captured that in his facial expression.
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Community spirited photographer
A professional photographer who fought fiercely to maintain copyright issues and an amateur painter. David was well travelled in his younger years, with trips to Australia, South Africa, Canada, USA and Morocco with many of these places captured in his photographic work.
He was very community spirited, from LeithFM community radio when he was as a studio manager, to Leith Festival, organising the volytographer training programme for amateur photographers and giving his free time to promote and document festival events.
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​Papa Smurf
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Known by some of his close friends as Papa Smurf. He was quite a dancer and he brushed up well at birthday parties and weddings even though big social gatherings were not his first choice, preferring more intimate chats over a good cup of coffee.
Legendary soup
In later years, David who had lived in Leith for 36 years in a flat at Queen Charlotte Lane with no garden became interested in the new urban growing space at the Croft on St Johns Place, Leith. This was the start of a new food growing and learning project, undertaken with all the research and attention to detail you would expect of him. Again his community spirit shone through with his willingness to contribute to the communal aspects of maintaining the Croft, his sharing of his home grown produce to other Crofters and with for example the Citadel Youth Centre food making groups. His veggie soup at Croft events was legend!
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Silver Sands
At David’s specific request his ashes are heading to the Silver Sands of Morar, Arisaig, Scotland.
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Boom Radio
His legacy will live on visually with the mural at the Croft, also with the planned exhibitions of his work in and around Leith. His many friends will carry his memory with great warmth and fondness. On a personal note his digital radio, still tuned to Boom Radio as I found it, gives me a daily reminder of our good friend David.
David Morrison in evening light
David Morrison at a picnic on Leith Community Croft
David Morrison planting snowdrops
David Morrison in evening light