Pauly Pocket is a mixed-media artist based in Leith, Edinburgh. His work focuses on often overlooked urban environments, exploring public spaces, buildings and objects, and finding inspiration in their decay and decades of erosion. He sees their imperfections as part of their story. Like flicking through the pages of a book, layers of scrapes, flaking paint and torn advertisements from years gone by reveal a long-forgotten history.

Working primarily with found materials, he treats the city as both subject and collaborator. He collects fragments of metal, wood, signage and paint, using layering, abrasives and corrosives to mimic the natural processes of decay. These materials are more than symbolic; they carry with them the presence of the places they come from. His work does not aim to simply document, but to evoke a sense of what remains and what has disappeared, capturing traces of memory that linger even as spaces are altered or erased.

In his recent project Helter Skelter, he responded directly to the shifting identity of the Leith area. Following the removal of the iconic Montgomery Street helter skelter, he reclaimed the structure, working with its surfaces marked by rust, flaking paint, scrapes and graffiti. By highlighting these imperfections, he treated them as visual records. Each mark contains a piece of the structure’s history and reflects the generations of people who encountered it.

The rough textures and unmanicured surfaces in his work invite a more honest, tactile connection with the final artworks. They leave space for viewers to project their own memories and experiences onto the pieces, allowing a shared sense of place, time and loss to emerge through personal reflection.