Edition Number 1 of 10, aquired for The Hulabhaig Collection. Other editions are available to purchase.

Stephan-Maria Aust's photo series ‘Bonnie Truth’ invites us on a visual journey along the coasts of the Hebrides – a seemingly delicate dance of light, shadow and landscape that appears calming at first glance. However, behind this almost poetic aesthetic lies an urgent message: nature is threatened by the flood of plastic waste produced by humans, the sea gurgles with debris and ultimately spits it out onto the beaches. 

With masterful photographic technique, Aust transforms this ambivalent theme into fascinating images full of atmosphere and urgency that arouse emotions and stimulate reflection.

‘Bonnie Truth’ impressively combines artistic beauty and social responsibility – art that challenges viewing habits and inspires action. A work as a powerful statement in any space.

Initial drawn marks observed from the landscape are used as a structure for the paint to run and flow across just as rain and water does as it erodes the landscape. The water-soluble graphite used to produce the initial drawing softens and melts as it reacts with the wet paint suggesting the process of erosion and how the solid ground is carved out by water. There is a sense in the painting the sky is invading the landscape implying a natural synergy between land and sky. When standing within the Gallan Head landscape there is a powerful sense the landscape is being thrust up into the sky and the sea. Within the painting I’m suggesting how the tangible landscape becomes broken down by the more ephemeral elements.

"We were already familiar with Gallan Head from previous visits to the Isle of Lewis and both of us particularly liked the gritty, mysterious, remoteness of the landscape, which dramatically towered out towards the Atlantic Ocean. This piece of land, previously owned by the MOD and used for surveillance during the ‘cold war’ period, has a wonderful eerie sense of abandonment, where nature has, inevitably, and rightly, claimed the landscape back. (Perhaps those neglected, collapsing, MOD buildings also suggested a familiar element of industrial abandonment, perhaps they were also echoing and connecting with those empty abandoned textiles buildings and mills dotted around the West Riding of Yorkshire moorland, these are symbols of abandonment extremely familiar to both of us).  

The empty buildings, almost comically futile in the way they hug the landscape, including large blocks of concrete used to anchor an enormous satellite dish, now left almost rolling around the landscape, act as evidence of human activity, but now completely exposed, weathered and corroded by the extremely harsh weather conditions. It was this human/nature juxtaposition that particularly interested us, how the wind, rain, the elements had inevitably taken over and constantly reshaping and reforming the landscape. "

Whilst the work produced at Gallan Head formed the initial ideas for the ‘Edge of Sight’ exhibition at an Lanntair in 2018, the idea of all-encompassing nature constantly forming and changing the landscape has remained an underlying theme with the work of both David and Margaret since living and working full time on the Isle of Lewis. 

Here the tangible has become completely lost and diffused by the elements - the atmosphere has completely broken the landscape down. I’m interested in how the solid landscape becomes something indefinable, something unexplained, something mysterious and not understandable. I like the suggestion within the painting that things are ever shifting and moving and cannot be pinned down. I want there to be a tension between the paint and how it suggests atmosphere, how paint can suggest something that is meant to be solid but isn’t.    

During the summer of 2017 and January 2018 Margaret Uttley and David Knight began producing a body of drawings and paintings at Gallan Head, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, the most north westerly point of the UK. These drawings and paintings, produced on location, formed the basis of a major joint exhibition ‘Edge of Sight’, held during the summer 2018 at the Arts Centre an Lanntair, Stornoway. This was one year before Maragret and David moved to the Isle of Lewis to live and work full time, and set up their studio at Cliff, just a short drive away from Gallan Head.   

"We were already familiar with Gallan Head from previous visits to the Isle of Lewis and both of us particularly liked the gritty, mysterious, remoteness of the landscape, which dramatically towered out towards the Atlantic Ocean. This piece of land, previously owned by the MOD and used for surveillance during the ‘cold war’ period, has a wonderful eerie sense of abandonment, where nature has, inevitably, and rightly, claimed the landscape back. (Perhaps those neglected, collapsing, MOD buildings also suggested a familiar element of industrial abandonment, perhaps they were also echoing and connecting with those empty abandoned textiles buildings and mills dotted around the West Riding of Yorkshire moorland, these are symbols of abandonment extremely familiar to both of us).  

The empty buildings, almost comically futile in the way they hug the landscape, including large blocks of concrete used to anchor an enormous satellite dish, now left almost rolling around the landscape, act as evidence of human activity, but now completely exposed, weathered and corroded by the extremely harsh weather conditions. It was this human/nature juxtaposition that particularly interested us, how the wind, rain, the elements had inevitably taken over and constantly reshaping and reforming the landscape. "

Whilst the work produced at Gallan Head formed the initial ideas for the ‘Edge of Sight’ exhibition at an Lanntair in 2018, the idea of all-encompassing nature constantly forming and changing the landscape has remained an underlying theme with the work of both David and Margaret since living and working full time on the Isle of Lewis. 

During the summer of 2017 and January 2018 Margaret Uttley and David Knight began producing a body of drawings and paintings at Gallan Head, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, the most north westerly point of the UK. These drawings and paintings, produced on location, formed the basis of a major joint exhibition ‘Edge of Sight’, held during the summer 2018 at the Arts Centre an Lanntair, Stornoway. This was one year before Maragret and David moved to the Isle of Lewis to live and work full time, and set up their studio at Cliff, just a short drive away from Gallan Head.   

"We were already familiar with Gallan Head from previous visits to the Isle of Lewis and both of us particularly liked the gritty, mysterious, remoteness of the landscape, which dramatically towered out towards the Atlantic Ocean. This piece of land, previously owned by the MOD and used for surveillance during the ‘cold war’ period, has a wonderful eerie sense of abandonment, where nature has, inevitably, and rightly, claimed the landscape back. (Perhaps those neglected, collapsing, MOD buildings also suggested a familiar element of industrial abandonment, perhaps they were also echoing and connecting with those empty abandoned textiles buildings and mills dotted around the West Riding of Yorkshire moorland, these are symbols of abandonment extremely familiar to both of us).  

The empty buildings, almost comically futile in the way they hug the landscape, including large blocks of concrete used to anchor an enormous satellite dish, now left almost rolling around the landscape, act as evidence of human activity, but now completely exposed, weathered and corroded by the extremely harsh weather conditions. It was this human/nature juxtaposition that particularly interested us, how the wind, rain, the elements had inevitably taken over and constantly reshaping and reforming the landscape. "

Whilst the work produced at Gallan Head formed the initial ideas for the ‘Edge of Sight’ exhibition at an Lanntair in 2018, the idea of all-encompassing nature constantly forming and changing the landscape has remained an underlying theme with the work of both David and Margaret since living and working full time on the Isle of Lewis. 

Siud bàrca beag le antrom gaoithe sìorraidh
’na siùil chaithe, a’dìreadh cuain gun chòrsa,
’s I leatha fhèin an cearcall cian na fàire,
is gul is gàireachdaich triomh chèil’ air bòrd dhith.
 
Tha Bròn, Aoibh, Aois is Òige, Sàr is Suarach
a’ tarraing nam ball buan a tha ri ‘brèidibh;
tha Amaideas is Gliocas, Naomh is Peacach
air a stiùir mu seach is càch gan èisteachd.
 
Fo speur tha uair grianach, uair sgreunach,
-clais is cìrein – fèath is doineann – thèid i,
gu fàire nach do leum saidh riamh no sùilean,
’s a lorg ’s a h-ùpraid ghuth  ’dol bàs ’na dèidh-se.
 
Ceangal
 
Siud i is brù air a siùil ’s i ‘deuchainn gach sgòid,
long àrsaidh le sunnd is sùrd is lèireadh air bòrd;
fàire làn rùn nach do rùisgeadh fo cheann a croinn speòid,
is cop uisge a stiùrach a’ dùnadh ’ga chall sa mhuir mhòir.

Yonder sails a little bark, with the grievous burden of an eternal wind 
on her worn sails, climbing and ocean that has no coast,
alone within the distant circle of the horizon,
with a confusion of weeping and laughter aboard her.
 
Grief, Joy, Age and Youth, Eminent and Of-No-Account 
are heaving at the everlasting gear that trims her canvas;
Folly and Wisdom, Saint and Sinner
take her helm in turn, and all obey them.
 
Under a sky now sunny, now lowering
-trough and crest- calm and tempest- she goes on
to a horizon that neither stem nor eye yet overleapt,
and her track and her tumult of voices die astern of her.
 
Envoi
There she goes with a curve on her sails,
putting each sheet to the test,
an ancient ship with bustle and cheer and suffering aboard her,
a horizon full of secrets unrevealed under her bowsprit head,
and the foam of her wake closing and losing itself in the great sea astern.

Inspired by ‘Clann Àdhaimh’ a haunting poem on the condition of humanity by Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa (George Campbell Hay) written c.1945. In the etching Maclean gives us a glimpse of the boat tossed about on the seas, as if through the veil of rigging, flapping sails and sea spray. This ship is a metaphor for the Gaelic language and culture.
​
Maclean’s extensive knowledge of rigging and the sea is conveyed through the superb draughtsmanship of this image and relates back to his time at sea as a merchant sailor and fisherman.

The King's Fish

This etching is inspired by a traditional Gaelic poem ‘Iasg an Righ’ which tells of a fishing trip in which both the Viking and Irish king hook the same dogfish at the same time and so quarrel over ownership of the fish – possibly a metaphor for the battles for ownership of the Western Isles, the Isle of Man and Ireland. Will Maclean has cleaved the etching plate in two to symbolise the acrimony. Seaweed has been imprinted into the border to extend the marine theme.

Elegy to Captain Ferguson
 

Captain Ferguson was a notorious Hanovarian naval officer, originally from Scotland, who brutally supressed the Highland people after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The poem in Gaelic ‘Marbhrann do Chaiptean Fearghuston’ by Iain Mac Fhearchair (John MacCodrum), an eighteenth-century bard from Uist, tells of the rumour of the death of Captain Ferguson by drowning, which unfortunately proved to be false. Will Maclean’s etching shows the five mountains which narrate the poem and the face of the drowned Ferguson with an upturned ship as his mouth.

This work references the artists time as a ring net fisherman in the 1960’s on the east coast of Lewis. Fond memories of fishing with traditional methods now lost, but later documented in The Ring Net project.

“Between 1973 and 1978 Scottish visual artist Will Maclean developed The Ring Net, a detailed documentation of a method of herring fishing, largely conducted by two boats working together. The ring net method originated in Loch Fyne in the 1830s and, although resisted by drift netters, spread extensively on the West Coast of Scotland, on the North Sea Coast and elsewhere, coming to an end with the wide scale adoption of purse seining, pelagic trawling and the herring population collapses of the 1970s. The documentation, which was developed alongside that of Angus Martin, who wrote The Ring Net Fishermen (1981), is focused on Loch Fyne and on Skye, with whose fishermen Maclean was more personally connected.

A list of works from Glasgow’s Third Eye Centre, where The Ring Net was first exhibited in January 1978, includes over 250 photographs, nearly 70 drawings and well over 30 prints and tracings. The originality and artistic significance it holds as a body of work finds its focus in the drawings. The exhibition is held by Scotland’s National Gallery of Contemporary Art.”

Text from RIGBY’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE HERRING aka The Herripedia.

An interview with Scottish artist Will Maclean on his documentary exhibition, The Ring Net, which he developed between 1973 and 1978

https://www.herripedia.com/ring-net-will-maclean/

One of the most popular works. "People identify with the identifiable."

Johnathan's Temple is his work with the most domestic waste. The cafetiere filter, the washers, the coaxial connector etc. are all immediately recognised, providing a comforting familiarity. More is revealed, the shaving foam canister base, sometimes viewers gasp! The artist is amazed that repurposing and recycling in itself can cause such a reaction.

Temple is a very personal work, relating to many aspects of the artists past.  The turntable platter, technology, domestic waste, fishing industry waste etc. All relating to his past hedonism, self destructive nature, his consumerism, and earlier disconnection from nature.

"Temple is a transmitter and receiver. A prayer, sent, received and answered."

A deep self searching was required to find inner peace and joy. This work has helped the artist to reconnect, bringing nature back into his soul.

"Everything external is temporary and conditional. I had to look within to find inner peace and joy."

The Bethesda fish bowl defines his outer and inner states of being. The barnacle and shell on the mirror represent nature returning within and his joy mirrored back to the universe. The 'inner state' is home!

*Kindly loaned to the Hulabhaig Collection by the artist.

Donald Macphail (Dòmhnall Beag)

Born 5th December 1874. Age 44.

11 Borrowston. Seaman RNR.

Service number 222Z/D. LWM 1/LWM 10

The son of Donald and Marion Macphail (née Macleod), Donald was married to Mary, [née Mackay) and they had five children. Naval records give his birth date as January 1874. Donald had enrolled in the RNR on 29th March 1899 and had nearly 20 years service. He reported to HMS Pembroke from Peterhead via Stornoway, on 14th August 1914, and eight months later joined the aircraft carrier HMS Campania, staying with her until she was sunk in a collision on 6th November 1918. Donald left the Chatham barracks at HMS Pembroke for his first New Year of peacetime and never reached his home.

He was interred at Dalmore Cemetery (WG].

Source: The Darkest Dawn, Malcolm Macdonald and Donald John Macleod
—————

On New Years eve 1918, sailors who had survived the carnage of WW1 gathered in Kyle of Lochalsh, desperate to return to their loving families. Many went aboard the yacht 'Iolaire', others boarded the 'Sheila'

During the passage of the Iolaire from Kyle to Stornoway the yacht took the wrong course. At 1.55am, within a mile of the harbour and with the lights of home visible, she grounded on infamous rocks called the Beasts of Holm. 201 were lost; 79 survived of whom half came ashore on a rope taken from the ship to shore by hero of the night, John Finlay Macleod. 

On 1st January, islanders found the bodies of  men lying on the shore amongst scattered toys and presents they were bringing home to their loved ones. Many of the men's bodies were never recovered. 

The impact of the disaster was felt throughout the islands. Its effect was profound on the islands. It was little talked about afterwards through trauma and deep grief and is not well known outside the Hebrides. 

Margaret's own family was affected, with the loss of a great uncle, Alasdair Mackenzie, 'Am Boican'.

Mass emigration followed, with many islanders never to return home. 

Following her experience with "Dol Fodha na Greine" Margaret decided in 2015 to commemorate the sailors who were lost in the 1919 Iolaire disaster. 100 portraits in oils to commemorate the centenary have been completed. The exhibition at An Lanntair arts centre Stornoway ran from 29/12/18 to 2/3/2019. 

A selection of paintings was also shown in the Scottish parliament in March 2019 at an event hosted by Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP.

*Kindly loaned to the Hulabhaig Collection by the artist.

John Alexander Macaskill (Jack)

Born 7th March 1899. Age 19.

75 Keith Street. Signalman RNVR.

Service number Z/8453. LWM 1/LWM 9

Born in Liverpool to Hugh and Chrissie "Teens" Macaskill (née Maclean), Jack Macaskill was their only son and had just one sister, Maggie 'Teens'. Jack was well known in the town as a junior clerk in the Harbour Office, from soon after war broke out. He was a member of the Stornoway Boys' Naval Brigade and volunteered his services as soon as he reached an age to enlist. His signalling skills were quickly spotted and he was engaged by the RNVR to serve from 1st April 1917 until the cessation of hostilities. He served at HMS Victory VI, HMS Victory / and HMS Vivid Ill and saw plenty of action, including being torpedoed twice. He left HMS Vivid at Devonport to rejoin his family in Stornoway but was never to see them again. His body was not recovered until late February 1919 and he was then interred at Old Sandwick Cemetery (WG). A memorial tablet to his memory is in St Peter's Church, Stornoway.

Source: The Darkest Dawn, Malcolm Macdonald and Donald John Macleod
—————

On New Years eve 1918, sailors who had survived the carnage of WW1 gathered in Kyle of Lochalsh, desperate to return to their loving families. Many went aboard the yacht 'Iolaire', others boarded the 'Sheila'

During the passage of the Iolaire from Kyle to Stornoway the yacht took the wrong course. At 1.55am, within a mile of the harbour and with the lights of home visible, she grounded on infamous rocks called the Beasts of Holm. 201 were lost; 79 survived of whom half came ashore on a rope taken from the ship to shore by hero of the night, John Finlay Macleod. 

On 1st January, islanders found the bodies of  men lying on the shore amongst scattered toys and presents they were bringing home to their loved ones. Many of the men's bodies were never recovered. 

The impact of the disaster was felt throughout the islands. Its effect was profound on the islands. It was little talked about afterwards through trauma and deep grief and is not well known outside the Hebrides. 

Margaret's own family was affected, with the loss of a great uncle, Alasdair Mackenzie, 'Am Boican'.

Mass emigration followed, with many islanders never to return home. 

Following her experience with "Dol Fodha na Greine" Margaret decided in 2015 to commemorate the sailors who were lost in the 1919 Iolaire disaster. 100 portraits in oils to commemorate the centenary have been completed. The exhibition at An Lanntair arts centre Stornoway ran from 29/12/18 to 2/3/2019. 

A selection of paintings was also shown in the Scottish parliament in March 2019 at an event hosted by Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP.

The storyteller is Duncan Macleod, the eldest of 5 children, with three brothers and a sister . He was brought up in Point, in the village of Garrabost. His mother Annie had little English and mainly conversed in Gaelic.

He was a crofter and an expert historian,  with detailed knowledge of the genealogy and history of the district. 

AIRD MEINISH - Tide Bhagarrach 2

The eternal lure of an island, that faint glimmer in the distance, that unexplored landscape, that opportunity to expand our own inner horizons, is nowhere more potent for Rhea than on the islands along Scotland’s West Coast.

These images reflect her repeated visits to Eilean Aird Meinish, a tiny tidal island sitting between Loch Miavaig and Loch Roag. Only accessible by foot at low tide and dwarfed by the often cloud-capped hills of Uig, the island is a reminder of the power held within the smallest view and the slowest journey.

AIRD MEINISH - Feamainn

The eternal lure of an island, that faint glimmer in the distance, that unexplored landscape, that opportunity to expand our own inner horizons, is nowhere more potent for Rhea than on the islands along Scotland’s West Coast.

These images reflect her repeated visits to Eilean Aird Meinish, a tiny tidal island sitting between Loch Miavaig and Loch Roag. Only accessible by foot at low tide and dwarfed by the often cloud-capped hills of Uig, the island is a reminder of the power held within the smallest view and the slowest journey.

‘S Fhada Leam an Oidhche Gheamraidh (Long is the winter night)

This work is presented here as part of the Hulabhaig Collection by kind permission of the artist.

Work inspired by the songs of Murdo MacFarlane (Bàrd Mhealboist).

This song was written when Murdo was a young man, working in Manitoba, Canada, and is a classic ‘exile’ song. A very beautiful song. The translations don’t do the songs justice, either in the beauty of the gaelic original or the music.

"I wanted to use a horizon in a large-scale painting, and embody that sense of exile and longing in the song.  ‘Cianalas’ is a very particular term in gaelic, often translated as homesickness, it is much more profound than that, as this translation suggests: ‘A deep seated sense of belonging to the place where your roots lie. Normally attributed to the Outer Hebrides. There is no sadness or melancholy in cianalas, only the realisation of what is truly important in life.’"

‘S Fhada Leam an Oidhche Gheamraidh (extract)

I feel the winter night long 
Long, long, long it is 
I can see nothing but a bare prairie there 
And I can’t hear a wave coming to the shore

(Chorus) 
In the evening time when it’s getting dark 
Often the spirit will be full of longing 
Thinking that there is a long, long distance 
From where I would like to be ceilidhing 

The work was created for an exhibition curated by Ishbel Murray 2016 based around a book launch.

 'Le Mùirn'  (With Affection)  
Author - Catriona Murray https://www.ishbelmurray.org/collaboration.html

Locus amoenus (‘pleasant place’) is a literary term which refers to an idealized place of safety or comfort which generally has three basic elements: trees, grass, and water. Often it will be in a remote place and function as a landscape of the mind, and also a place of refuge from the processes of time and mortality.

This last year has been a time of seeking such spaces, both real and imaginary, and a time for reflection and review.

In this context, I have revisited a printed element in a previous series of works Hortus Conclusus ‘the enclosed garden’ as part of Curved Stream at Traquair House in the Scottish Borders in 2015. These works incorporated a motif reproduced (through photo lithography) from the embossed design of a book cover in the museum room at Traquair. The motif suggested the design and symbolism of an enclosed or walled garden to which I added a ‘quartering of the world’ and water at the heart of the space. This new series of works are a reworking of an unfinished piece from the earlier series, and are now overlaid with the concept of the locus amoenus and our current experiences in relation to seeking solace, enclosures and green spaces in the face of a global pandemic. I have layered additional monoprinting and oil paint onto the paper

This work is very typical of the artists work at this time, when she has was developing a visual language to explore and frame her island identity. Maps were more strongly present in her work - the rendering of the coastline and co-ordinates of an Ordnance Survey map are focused on Loch Seaforth (Siophort) which effectively forms the boundary between Harris and Lewis. This work also incorporates silver leaf which has slowly oxidised with time.

Kindly loaned to the Hulabhaig Collection by the artist.

“The Heretics Take Down the Bells from the Churches in Geneva: On the next Wednesday (May 12th) those dogs removed the bell from Notre Dame de Grace and threw it down from the Steeple to destroy it. Afterwards they went to see the bells at the monastery of Palais and at the parish of Saint-Gervais because they wanted to melt them down and make weapons to use against monseigneur and the Christians.”[i] 

Commissioned by An Lanntair, Re-Soundings is the outcome of a collaborative journey through the landscapes of Lewis and Iona. Musician John Purser of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Lewis writer Alastair McIntosh, accompanied us in our exploration of the bell as a symbol of secular and non-secular time all set against the wider context of the reformation in Europe. The thinking behind Re-Soundings was directly informed by the time spent in specific landscapes with local people who shared their knowledge and connection to place, and through conversations and activities with Alastair McIntosh and John Purser. Re-Soundings references the iconoclasm of the Reformation and the impact of this on belief structures in the Hebrides, suggested by the presence and absence of the bell as a visual and auditory feature in the landscape. One of Alastair McIntosh’s observations on Lewis’s bell-less belfries is that the empty space leaves room to look through and beyond to an alternative and, some might argue, deeper understanding of belief. The emptiness and silence has created a space not only for reflection, but also, for creativity. Into this, Re-Soundings ventures. 

The exhibition at An Lanntair in May/June 2016 and the sound interventions at St. Moluag’s Chapel on Lewis and St. Oran’s Chapel on Iona in June 2016, reflect months of shared thinking, and engagement with one another’s artistic and scholarly practices, and with the people most connected to the landscapes we explored. Created by John Purser, the sound work was composed primarily from bell recordings gathered during public workshops and performances on Lewis and Iona. 

The bells were created by re casting WW1 munitions into replicas of two early Christian quadrangular hand-bells. We chose this material to symbolise a rethinking of the iconoclasm of the Reformation in Europe; we know from historical documents that bells were removed from religious buildings and recast as munitions. It seemed fitting to use munitions from the Great War, given that the project coincides with its centenary. The project is supported by a bi-lingual publication with commissioned writing from Alastair McIntosh, John Purser and Francis MacKee and includes a CD of the sound piece and pullout screen printed map of the geographical context of the project.

The publication serves as an artefact to the project, extending its life beyond the chronology of the exhibition and installations. One meaning of “inspiration” is to breathe in, and as artists we have inhaled deeply of the exceptional physical, spiritual and cultural terrain of Lewis and Iona. 

We hope that the Re Soundings website, publication and CD will allow you to share in that breath.

The project would not have been possible without the generous support of Creative Scotland, An Lanntair, Comhlairle nan Eileen Siar, Historic Environment Scotland, Sabhal Mar Ostaig, Fiona MacNeill Associates, Aosdàna, Media Studio Glasgow School of Art, Ness Historical Society, Shawbost Historical Society, St. Peter’s Church Stornoway. Personal thanks also to Acair Books, Alastair McIntosh, John Purser, Frances McKee; Roddy Murray, Elly Fletcher, Jon Macleod, An Lanntair; Rev. Terry Taggart, St. Peter’s Church Stornoway; Finlay Macleod; Andy Crossan; Andrew Laing, Laings Foundry Edinburgh; Calum Angus Mackay, Ivor MacKenzie, MastArd Studio; Etta and Roddy Morrison; Jim Crawford; Anne Macleod, Ness Historical Society; Iain Macaulay; Alasdair MacKay, Skyespace, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig; Geoff Allen, CaVa Recording Studios; Andy Graham, Graphical House; Alasdair MacLeoid, Facal; Jane Martin, Historic Environment Scotland; Pete Johnson, Ratho Forge; Gordon Bruce, Aosdàna; Andrew Tibbles, Mark Craig, MakLab. Finally, we owe many thanks to the participants of the Lewis and Iona sound workshops. Their engagement with the bells provided John with a wealth of audio material for his composition.

https://re-soundings.com/journal/

Part of the 'Exposure' touring exhibition.

Winner of the RSA Benno Schotz Prize for the most promising work by a Scottish artist under 35. Royal Scottish Academy 197th Annual Exhibition. Winner of Rèasort Estates Award, Hulabhaig Uig Open 2021. The Outer Hebrides are among rural communities throughout the world that are experiencing population decline. Out of any Scottish local authority region, The Outer Hebrides is where this is most significant. From 1901 to 2001 the population has fallen by 40% . More recent figures show that population is predicted to decline by a further 16% between 2018 and 2046 while the rest of Scotland is set to increase by 2.4%. The Outer Hebrides comprise more than 70 islands but only 15 remain inhabited today. This work uses footage recorded in abandoned houses, field recordings from the Isle of lewis and Scottish archival audio in order to give an immersive experience of the loss currently being experienced there.

Commission by the University of Edinburgh, for the exhibition 'A Carrying Stream' 2023. 'This work is a reflection on what it means to live a rural existence - a life characterised by a deep bond with nature; an endless balancing act between appreciating its beauty and bounty, and sheltering from its ambivalent brutality. For most of human history this relationship was mediated by the campfire, the centre of this piece as it was the traditional centre of rural life. Warm by the fire, we were given the respite to reflect on our relationship with nature and each other, and from this all manner of prose, poetry, song, and comfort emerged. In Scotland where so much of our cultural output and history speaks to an embodiment of nature, one could argue that it was by the fire that we found our identity. When populations are sparse and nature unforgiving, these bonds of community become vital for survival. But the fire also gave rise to something greater than survival - we started to dream. This piece invites the spectator to sit by the campfire and experience these dreams again. To feel that same reverence for nature embodied by our oral tradition, that our rural ancestors would have felt time and again, here in the warm glow of life itself.'.

“I was working in my studio byre, a little unhappy with a wooden crate that I had built, layered with lead, a sort of open flat box at one end. I left it and took a spin down to the west end of the village in my van. Without warning, my front wheel took a bump over something I stopped to check, and out of an old hessian sack slid a large, shiny skate. Unexpected roadkill. I took it with me back to the studio, and I could scarcely believe it; as if the lead box had been made for it, the skate was nailed to the edges, just like a burial casket.

Later, I told the story of this image to Colin 'Fish'. He had a bad habit of going between the houses and leaving the back doors of his van wide open. He had a proper laugh.”

Extract from UNNAD  Indigenous.

CEARNS This project grew from Deljeem Rai's desire to explore his connection to and identity within the Cearns, a small housing estate in Stornoway. Growing up in Nepal gave him a strong national identity and sense of self, a sense that suffered after migrating to Scotland where a desire to fit into his adopted nation necessitated that he disconnect from that identity. However, while living in the Cearns, Deljeem found a new sense of belonging within a community. There, himself and his family became part of a community that had a strong sense of connection with each other and who supported and welcomed them. Through portraiture and environmental photographs, he hopes to create pride for those who live in the Cearns, seeing themselves and their homes represented in a way that reflects their strong community values.

CEARNS This project grew from Deljeem Rai's desire to explore his connection to and identity within the Cearns, a small housing estate in Stornoway. Growing up in Nepal gave him a strong national identity and sense of self, a sense that suffered after migrating to Scotland where a desire to fit into his adopted nation necessitated that he disconnect from that identity. However, while living in the Cearns, Deljeem found a new sense of belonging within a community. There, himself and his family became part of a community that had a strong sense of connection with each other and who supported and welcomed them. Through portraiture and environmental photographs, he hopes to create pride for those who live in the Cearns, seeing themselves and their homes represented in a way that reflects their strong community values.

‘Guardians’ is an ongoing series exploring the reconstruction of the artist’s identity after leaving her Christian faith, and about the nature of belief as a space between reality and imagination. These masks, constructed mostly from natural and found materials on the islands, manifest spirituality outside the boundaries of organised religion. They declare a new way of being to the place which formed her. The making of each mask begins as a re-molding of a certain way of being and believing. As soon as they are worn an entity is called into existence that has movement and life. Once photographed, these entities become idols, or gods, or spiritual guides, that continue to lead one towards a better place. Old gods have been replaced by new ones — not ones of authority but of inspiration. Inspiration to be, to play, and to live in a way that feels more right and more true for oneself.

‘Guardians’ is an ongoing series exploring the reconstruction of the artist’s identity after leaving her Christian faith, and about the nature of belief as a space between reality and imagination. These masks, constructed mostly from natural and found materials on the islands, manifest spirituality outside the boundaries of organised religion. They declare a new way of being to the place which formed her. The making of each mask begins as a re-molding of a certain way of being and believing. As soon as they are worn an entity is called into existence that has movement and life. Once photographed, these entities become idols, or gods, or spiritual guides, that continue to lead one towards a better place. Old gods have been replaced by new ones — not ones of authority but of inspiration. Inspiration to be, to play, and to live in a way that feels more right and more true for oneself.

‘Guardians’ is an ongoing series exploring the reconstruction of the artist’s identity after leaving her Christian faith, and about the nature of belief as a space between reality and imagination. These masks, constructed mostly from natural and found materials on the islands, manifest spirituality outside the boundaries of organised religion. They declare a new way of being to the place which formed her. The making of each mask begins as a re-molding of a certain way of being and believing. As soon as they are worn an entity is called into existence that has movement and life. Once photographed, these entities become idols, or gods, or spiritual guides, that continue to lead one towards a better place. Old gods have been replaced by new ones — not ones of authority but of inspiration. Inspiration to be, to play, and to live in a way that feels more right and more true for oneself.

‘Guardians’ is an ongoing series exploring the reconstruction of the artist’s identity after leaving her Christian faith, and about the nature of belief as a space between reality and imagination. These masks, constructed mostly from natural and found materials on the islands, manifest spirituality outside the boundaries of organised religion. They declare a new way of being to the place which formed her. The making of each mask begins as a re-molding of a certain way of being and believing. As soon as they are worn an entity is called into existence that has movement and life. Once photographed, these entities become idols, or gods, or spiritual guides, that continue to lead one towards a better place. Old gods have been replaced by new ones — not ones of authority but of inspiration. Inspiration to be, to play, and to live in a way that feels more right and more true for oneself.

‘Guardians’ is an ongoing series exploring the reconstruction of the artist’s identity after leaving her Christian faith, and about the nature of belief as a space between reality and imagination. These masks, constructed mostly from natural and found materials on the islands, manifest spirituality outside the boundaries of organised religion. They declare a new way of being to the place which formed her. The making of each mask begins as a re-molding of a certain way of being and believing. As soon as they are worn an entity is called into existence that has movement and life. Once photographed, these entities become idols, or gods, or spiritual guides, that continue to lead one towards a better place. Old gods have been replaced by new ones — not ones of authority but of inspiration. Inspiration to be, to play, and to live in a way that feels more right and more true for oneself.

The Croftland series explores themes of crofting and visually offers commentary on post-clearance land use and the division of land in crofting townships on the west side of Lewis. This was born from a curiosity about practices in transhumance, the movement of animals to summer grazing by indigenous peoples and a curiosity as to why these stopped and the sheiling culture went out of use, possibly due to the advent of fencing.

Several of the Croftland series artworks will be exhibited as part of Buaile, an exhibition at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery (IMAG), which was part of a collaborative visual arts programme delivered across three city centre venues with Wasps Inverness Creative Academy and Eden Court. Together they will present a wide range of works from artists who are inspired by the Gaelic language, the culture and connection to the land.

Blending memory, landscape and contemplation, Sandras Imagination plays alongside the natural environment around her village - Marvig, South Lochs, Lewis. The scree slopes are backdrops for all kinds of narratives. With the changing weather and light, moods follow. The weather; the colours and the seasons tell their own stories.

This sculpture is cast directly from grasses from the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides. It was formed using traditional casting methods with plaster using source water from the landscape. Its shape was inspired by the landscape, reflecting the weather-carved, tide-borne objects that speak of this place. A last layer of reflection radiates through colour - pigments made and applied from fires where great stories were told.

Part of the 'Blue Jura' series

Winner of the 2022 Hulabhaig Uig Open Curator’s Purchase Award.

'A Road Less Travelled' stands out as a strong illustration of islandness or remoteness which has clearly been influenced by human activity which is not always positive.

A small piece of Harris

Part of the Flowers series