Uaim an Òir

Uaim an Òir (Seam of Gold)

When people are dislocated from their land, language and culture, they grow further away from the resources that formed them. Uamh an Òir (the Cave of Gold) is an ancient story found across the Gaidhealtachd about individuals who tried to keep connected to their traditions through a piece of music and the defiant act of producing this in times of suppression. This installation revives this story and is a meditation on how we are born and shaped by the landscapes we are rooted to, the places and spaces we inhabit, and the history and culture embedded in these.

‘The exhibition has its genesis as long ago as November 2019 and went through several iterations in its development, over a period that included lockdown, and more. In Gaelic, when the word uamh (cave) is used as an intensifier (uamhasach), it can mean ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ or ‘profoundly.’  Which is appropriate here because the installation represents a deep delve into Gaelic culture, encompassing folklore, ecology, music, history, tradition, and the interweaving and interdependence of people and place. It’s an original concept and an uncompromising vision, supported by dedicated scholarship and research. Ultimately a rich and rewarding experience.’

Roddy Murray - Head of Visual Arts & Literature, An Lanntair.

PLACE - In the North and West of Scotland, there are multiple stories of 'Uamh an Òir' (the Cave of Gold), each with the main theme told from the perspective of a piper who goes into a cave and meets with an untimely end, but each with a unique variation of the melody, lyrics and story. There are corresponding placenames of 'Uamh an Òir' linked to actual caves found across the Gäidhealtachd.

The caves which give this exhibition their form are known to be 'Caves of Gold': one in Barra; two in Skye; one on the mainland of Scotland in Gairloch; and 'Cnoc an Òir' (the hill of Gold) on an outlying island off of Uig, Lewis.
I travelled to the caves with archival sound recordings of the song Uamh an Òir' - a gift to place, from its people in their voices, their dialect. In each cave I played the sound recordings of the local variations of the song and listened to the caves response.
Caves are mysterious places, and have been understood to be portals into the 'otherworld' and through which creativity is born in Gaelic culture. Pipers have been known to go to these places to compose, practice and play in out of earshot.

PLANTS - Until mass produced chanters were affordable and readily available, Gaels utilised locally growing plant material to make homemade practice chanters and reeds.
Hollow stemmed plants were chosen, holes bored with hot fencing wire and played with teeth-flattened com-stack reeds. The variations in localised plant ecology were reflected in the material choices of these
'dresser chanters' made and played by pipers; yellow iris stalks in Raasay, oats in Islay, ragwort in Perthshire, elder in Skye, dark rushes in Benbecula and barley or oat grain reeds.
Similar to Canntaireachd (the aural notation used for bagpipe music), these dresser chanters were ephemeral, living on the windowsill, dresser or stowed in the thatched roof and played until they wore out and were replaced. The skill of the maker and the player growing with each new plant chanter and reed crafted.

PEOPLE - Variation in plant species from different places can be seen in height, colour, form and mirror changes found in the music.
Variation is material repeated in an altered form. Altered and changed forms can run through melody and in sculpture, but what of lyrical species?

PIPING - The Gaidheal have a history with the pipes. One that runs deep and has undergone many changes:

''And have you no music, no singing, no dancing now at your marriages?"

'May the Possessor keep you! I see that you are a stranger in Lewis, or you would not ask such a question, the woman exclaimed with grief and surprise in her tone. 'It is long since we abandoned those foolish ways in Ness, and, indeed throughout Lewis. In my young days there was hardly a house in Ness in which there was not one or two or three who could play the pipe, or the fiddle, or the trump. And I have heard it said that there were men, and women too, who could play things called harps, lyres, and bellow-pipes, but I do not know what those things were...

'and why were those discontinued?'

'A blessed change came over the place and the people, the woman replied in earnestness'

'and the good men and the good ministers who arose did away with the songs and the stories, the music and the dancing, the sports and the games that were perverting the minds and ruining the souls of the people, leading them to folly and stumbling!'

'But how did the people themselves come to discard their sports and pastimes?'

The Cave of Gold lyrics describe how time will have passed before the piper is able to return from the cave:

"Each one with her petticoat dipped, taking sand eels from the shore, before I come, before I return, before I come from the Cave of Gold, the little calves will be market cattle... the little boys will be heads of their own households before / return from the Cave of Gold."

(Translation Margaret Stewart)

Donald MacLean (Coll, Lewis) describes this as "looking back into eternity... an oceanic story with a single thread of faery tradition..."

Pipers have faced challenges throughout history - from those of the home to the battlefields, for Clan or Country - many's the time a piper must have faced unending darkness and had to step out first. As in the lyrics of Uamh an Oir, they too might have wished for three hands, two for the pipe and a third for a sword. However, the true loss of our pipers are not at the depth of the cave by the fairy beast guarding its golden lair, but at human hands: Colonisation, Land struggles, Calvinism, War, Emigration, Depopulation. Salt,
Ash and Carbon.
The Place holds these truths. Sounds and story held in stone. It is said that in the caves of gold, on certain days when the air holds the void still, you can still hear the piper playing.
The variations found in the Cave of Gold story and music are as unique as the places themselves and the recurring nature of cave, lyric, tune or plant species reinforce the connected indigeneity of the Gaidheal to the Gaidhealtachd.

The plants incorporated into this work were collected from the Places the caves took me over the winter months - their bare stems showed nothing of the living organism beneath the soil surface - wind ravaged, sand blasted these have stood the tests of time and were left sentinel, waiting perhaps to be borne by the hand of the player into tune.

The holes are those of the pipe chanter, spacing out the Gaidheal scale for an imagined player. A burned chromatic scale. Pollen and charcoal mix.

The casts are taken from the cave rocks and walls coloured, each from the same mould and yet different - a repetitive visual phrase to emphasize the enduring nature of the rhythmic bedrock and the powerful effect of the sea on rocks, unending tidal movements: sound waves.

The same tides, winds and weathers shape our contemporary communities, who is here to hear the call of the Place? To take up custodianship of the Plants? To be the carrying stream of the culture? Whose fingers create the holes, to birl and grace our way home, before we return to find the small fire that warms on the little day of peace?

MAIRI GILLIES - Is a Gaelic artist, working across different mediums. Her creative practice is embedded and embodied in 'Place. Curious about Gaelic ways of seeing' and our relationships between species and spaces.
She spends time outside in the landscape where she lives in Lewis, moving bodily through the seasons, interacting with bedrock, flora, fauna and exploring the connections with people who have been in the same spaces, in our shared environment, we are only separated by time.
 

Eyes As Big As Plates

On my regular walk around Loch Achmore, in late April I was surprised to see so many people enjoying the usually deserted Loch. Four anglers angling, a family of four, stomping in Wellies and a swimmer approaching in the brightest red dry robe I have ever seen.

A casual greeting and nod of the head on passing was all I managed before proceeding on my way. But as I started up the hill back to my home it dawned on me who the swimmer was. Riitta Ikonen.

Riitta was here for a series of events promoting her collaborative project Eyes as Big as Plates which included a exhibition of large photographs at Island Darkroom, a talk at An Lanntair and a beach workshop at  Reef on Bhaltos. So a visit to Island Darkroom was essential.

Brit, Norway 2018 and Fiona, Outer Hebrides 2019. 

Brit's connection with the most recent ice age is strong.
Her home town Trondheim is built on an old seabed, shaped through ice, rain and the fluctuating electrical charge of clay molecules. "The clay was confident today, of who was shaping who. I felt its weight, its smell, its humidity, its gurgling sound and its handling of me as a shape, and it was very much an inward journey, ...the material that I am so familiar with and usually in full control of totally ran the show."

Fiona undertook an ecological study of this very beach as part of her Sustainable Rural Development degree at the University of the Highlands and Islands. She slid in amongst the extremely fragrant mounds of seaweed at Arnol beach on the Isle of Lewis and held a yoga move called the 'low cobra' for a criminally long time.

Malcolm, Tasmania 2019.

Malcolm grew up in the UK and migrated to Australia after completing university. After thirty years there, he joined the Findhorn spiritual community on the Isle of lona. "As a child I was a loner with no friends and I was scared of being judged and ridiculed. Nature was where I was most at ease; a place of relaxation and solace."

Scotty, Tasmania 2019.

Scotty has lived surrounded by the rainforest on Bruny Island for twenty-five years and has a deep connection to the Tasmanian land and lively beings. He had just surfed here at Coal Point, and floated with the bull kelp for his portrait as an apres-surf chill down.

Riitta opening the show with a brief talk about the books. (photo courtesy of Island Darkroom)

The exhibition opening, was well attended, Riitta and Mhairi (of Island Darkroom) had made excellent use of the limited space available showing 5 large format photographs from the second book and dutifully opened the show with introductions, and a brief overview of the project, ‘the portrait Andrea’ was placed in the potting shed, much to Andrea’s amusement.

Andrea, Outer Hebrides 2019.

Andrea used to work with velodrome cyclists in Manchester but moved to the Outer Hebrides for a quieter life filled with peat banks and photography. Her website description reads:
"Grumpy woman living on the Isle of Lewis with her Eve, surrounded by mounds of old cameras in a little cotter's house, a better class of snob than most. Not available for hire at any time!"

Potting shed wall

Riitta invited us to explore the secret room, Mhairi’s darkroom where she had laid out many of her proof photos from the book, a real treat to see in a working photographers environment surrounded by developing trays and chemicals, interspersed with clumps of seaweed and algae hanging from taps and drying lines.

Excellent use of Island Darkroom facilities extending the shows photographic content.

Ron, Outer Hebrides 2019.

Ron from Dundee is the face of the 'Hearing Voices Network' in the UK. He is also known as the Billy Connelly of the mental health world. Ron spent ten years in 'the system', mostly heavily medicated and locked up, but within a year of joining the organisation he was off medication, speaking at conferences, doing stand-up and writing about his experiences, and has never looked back.

EYES as BIG as PLATES

Eyes as Big as Plates is an ongoing collaborative project by the Norwegian-Finnish artist duo Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen.

Part sculpture, photography, journalism and adventure club, Ikonen and Hjorth work together from beginning to the end of the process with their different complementing skills. Dictated by serendipity, weather and seasons, the series has over 150 portraits across five continents, all produced in collaboration with weavers, village chiefs, librarians, surfers, reindeer herders, opera singers, drivers, aboriginal artists, wrestling coaches, dambusters, students and farmers.

Island Darkroom presents selected works with a focus on seaweed and coastal life, captured on the Mamiya RZ67 medium format camera in the Outer Hebrides, Tasmania and Norway. The complete stories and behind the scenes action on the meetings that led to the portraits can be enjoyed in full in the second book on the series. The third volume comes out in 2027.

With the goal of combining the powers of art, science and activism, Ikonen and Hjorth are increasingly portraying people who are actively engaged in the climate emergency discourse, exploring the potential of art to propel actionable system change.

On a quest to understand our relationship with our surroundings the project continues to cross cultural and geographical borders while investigating ideas connected to the increasingly multispecies desynchronisation that is currently unfolding across ecosystems and communities.

Exhibition opening (photo courtesy of Island Darkroom)

Exhibition opening (photo courtesy of Island Darkroom)

Books About Island Contemporary Art

What Is It That Will Last
Land and Tidal Art of Julie Brook

The title of this book has struck a chord with me, it’s a question I’ve been asking about my own sculptural practice for a long time. And now in reading and studying the work of Julie Brook it is reinvigorating my interest in sculpture in new ways.

Land art, especially, that placed and created in remote inaccessible locations when few people will ever visit, resonate with the ideas of art being personal to the artist, internal explorations of one’s own interactions with the landscape, art important because of its conceptual being not of it’s commercial value.

When an artist endures hardship, isolation and physical effort in the pursuit of an idea  no one will see, says something about contemporary artists of today, and also enforces the importance of documentation and books such as this.

This publication offers a rich and expansive visual record of Julie Brook’s artistic practice, and proposes a unique collaboration between Brook and distinct voices from the nature writing and craftsmanship traditions.

Situating Brook’s practice in the context of critical reflections by Robert Macfarlane, Alexandra Harris and Raku Jikinyū, the publication presents a striking visual narrative of Brook's landscape and tidal sculptural work, and a sense of its timeless yet contemporary resonance. Documenting in depth a number of recent works made in the Hebrides, Japan and Namibia, their shared attention to the elements and their key pre-occupations of the fleeting, mobile forces of light, time, and gravity demonstrate Brook’s coherent vision within vastly contrasting environments. Throughout her oeuvre, the balance between what Brook makes in relation to the environment and materials themselves is paramount.

Including film stills, photography and drawing, which are all integral languages for conceptualising and communicating the work, plus insightful extracts from Brook’s notebooks, this beautiful publication succeeds in providing the reader with a unique understanding of the artist’s ‘monuments to the moment’.

Available from  www.lundhumphries.com

Three New Books for the Bookshelf
I'm looking forward to reading these new addiions. Comments to follow.

Calanais
The book of the exhibition celebrating An Lanntair's 10th aniversary, way back in 1995.

Eyes as Big as Plates 2
From Nordic artist duo Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen.

What Is It That Will Last
Land and Tidal Art of Julie Brook

Street Lyrics
Images at our Feet
Stephan-Maria Aust, Heike Winter and Magz Macleod

Street art in the truest meaning – art that is lying on the street. Everything about this book is extraordinary.

Extraordinary photographic subjects, in an extraordinary combination with poetry, in German and in English and a further, extraordinary language – Scottish Gael

Available from www.gaelicbooks.org

The Isle of Rust
Alex Boyd and Jonathan Meades

Here, at the north-westernmost periphery of Europe is what feels like a presage of the future, the distant future, the furthest future, after which there’ll be no future at all. This is the Isle of Rust – known, too, as Lewis and Harris. It is a blueprint, a working model of the day which will have no tomorrow. Jonathan Meades

Isle of Rust not only refers to the countless corroding tractors, weaving sheds and other visible signs of human settlement but also to the colours of the land: the reds of deergrass and the purple moor grass which make up so much of the moorland. It is a place of great contrast in both light and land, from the largely flat peatlands of Lewis, where the majority of islanders make their home, to the mountains of Harris. Alex Boyd

It’d be easy to mistake these landscapes for ruins. Rust is not ruin. There is in Meades-Boyd some kind of shared attention to the detritus of human life. They open their eyes to the humanity that inheres in what outlasts people’s lives. Dan Hicks

Available from www.luath.co.uk

An Leabhar Mòr / The Great Book of Gaelic
Malcolm Maclean & Theo Dorgan

The Gaelic language remains the most potent living link between Scotland and Ireland. Through An Leabhar Mòr/ The Great Book of Gaelic, the work of more than 200 poets, visual artists and calligraphers from both countries has been brought together to create a major contemporary artwork in the form of a visual anthology. The 100 Gaelic poems have been nominated by leading poets and writers such as Seumas Heaney, Hamish Henderson and Alistair Macleod as well as the contributing poets themselves. The selection features work from almost every century from the 6th to the 21st and includes the earliest Gaelic poetry in existence. Comedy, tragedy, love, death, the spiritual and the bawdy are all represented in poems by Sorley MacLean, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Iain Crichton Smith, Michael Davitt, Kevin MacNeill and Cathal Ó Searcaigh. The 100 visual artists – 50 from each country – were commissioned to respond to the poetry in a variety of media.

The resulting book renews the connection between Gaelic Scotland and Ireland and is an extraordinary celebration in words and pictures of the diverse strands of contemporary Celtic culture from the earliest times to the present day.

Available from www.gaelicbooks.com

Rethinking Highland Art
Murdo MacDonald, Lesley Lindsay, Lorna J. Waite, Meg Bateman

Work by Gaelic-speaking artists and artists responding to the culture of the Gàidhealtachd an important part of the art of Scotland..

This book has its origin in a research collaboration between the Visual Research Centre, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (University of Dundee) and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (University of the Highlands and Islands) which led to a major exhibition, Uinneag dhan Àird an Iar: Ath-Lorg Ealain na Gàidhealtachd / Window to the West: The Rediscovery of Highland Art, held at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh in the winter months of 2010-11.

Available from  www.gaelicbooks.com

Donald Smith
The paintings of an Islander

‘DONALD SMITH: The Paintings of An Islander, Dealbhan le Eileanach’ opens the door to the work of ‘Dòmhnall Safety’, the Lewis painter who captured the life and landscapes of his native island over the course of some fifty years.

Available from www.acairbooks.com

Journeyman
The Art of Steve Dillworth
Georgina Coburn

Georgina Coburn’s book Journeyman – The Art of Steve Dilworth is the first comprehensive investigation of the life and work of this important groundbreaking artist. Based on five years research and extensive interviews, the story of Dilworth and the evolution of his remarkable work is examined in detail, revealing one of the country’s most innovative and globally significant artists.

Since the 1970s, Steve Dilworth has been redefining art in his approach to making objects and handling of natural found materials. His extraordinary work crosses many boundaries in terms of how we think about sculpture, art objects, and our relationship with the natural world.

Dilworth’s work has featured in various publications, television programmes and films, including Robert Macfarlane’s book The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot and the documentary Is Mise an Teanga / I Am the Tongue directed by Murray Grigor. Recent exhibitions include a major solo retrospective, Mortal Remains at An Lanntair Arts Centre, Stornoway, and Off the Rock at the Pangolin London Gallery.

Journeyman – The Art of Steve Dilworth contains over 100 illustrations in colour and black and white.

Available from www.francisboutle.co.uk

UNNAD Indigenous 
Calum Angus Mackay

Photography and Painting from the Hebrides

When I first heard that Calum Angus Mackay was about to open an exhibition of his work at An Lanntair in 2024, as a precursor to the release of this book, I was somewhat excited.

Some of his early photos were already on my wish list for the Hulabhaig Collection,.

My research for Cruinneachadh Hulabhaig has unearthed many questions about island art and indigenous artists, and now that I have a copy of his book, I’m beginning to get answers.

The book is an honest account of Calum Angus’s life as an artist and crofter growing up and living on the Isle of Lewis. Its ability to offer a family and community oriented view of place from a self-examination both realistic and unsentimental is refreshing.

I highly recommend it.

Available from www.acairbooks.com

As an Fhearann - From the Land: A Century of Images of the Scottish Highlands
Edited by Malcolm MacLean and Christopher Carrell

Available from www.abebooks.co.uk

The Spirit of the Hebrides
Word and images inspired by Sorley MacLean

The Spirit of the Hebrides combines the poetry of Kenneth Steven with the photography of Alastair Jackson and features images of Skye and Raasay in homage to one of Scotland's leading 20th century poets, Sorley McLean.

The Spirit of the Hebrides explores islands as places to be discovered; places which shy away from recognition, yet are in some way familiar.

Kenneth Steven's poetry reflects on the link between people and the land; how identity is shaped by wild places; the passing of many of the old ways of the Hebrides; the enduring beauty of these islands; the hospitality of their people and the depth of their spiritual awareness.

Alastair Jackson's photography captures the wilder and remoter parts of Skye and Raasay, often in bad weather, but showing a glimmer of sunshine and hope on the horizon.

His wide horizons and stormy sky offer a glimpse into both the turbulent past and the deep spirituality of the Hebrides. This book uniquely captures the spirit of the Hebrides.

Available from St Andrew Press

More books to follow...

Meinish

I visited this exhibition at Grinneabhat early in April 2025 and was immediately absorbed by the beautiful photographic imagery of detailed and close up studies of the rocks and seaweed that we are all too often missing as we walk along our shorelines. It just takes a second to stop and look closer, but our minds are usually elsewhere.

Exhibition at Grinneabhat, North Bragar, Isle of Lewis.: 22nd March - 24th May 2025

Rhea's digital photographs all have a wonderful sense of texture, which expands on the 3D qualities of the imagery. Subtilely manipulated, her overlays and enhancements suggest a very personal response to the island as a place.
Her exploration of patterns of lichen and barnacle covered rocks is exquisite in the fine detail.

Barnacles

The images on show are a result of her repeated visits to Eilean Aird Meinish, a tiny tidal island sitting between Loch Miavaig and Loch Roag on Lewis.
Only accessible by foot at low tide, and dwarfed by the often cloud-capped hills of Uig, one would barely see it driving along the coast road. 

But for Rhea, the island became a walking meditation. 

‘the spiritual and the physical rising up from this tiny island are a reminder of the power held within the smallest view and the slowest journey.’

Clinging to the Edge

Rhea Banker is a fine art photographer and award-winning book designer. After living and working in New York City for 30 years, she now makes her base in Northwestern Massachusetts. Much of her work is based on journeys to far rocky edges of the world, including Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, the Orkney Islands, Greenland, Svalbard, and Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego. Her abstract studies of patterns within the Earth’s ancient surfaces have been exhibited in a variety of museums, galleries, nature centers, and cultural centers, including locations in Edinburgh, Scotland; Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides; Greenland; Copenhagen, Denmark; New York City, USA; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Croft

Crossing Point

Feamainn

Hope of Healing

In from the Sea

Lichen Shore

Sea + Stone

Seaweed

To Meinish

Tide Bhagarrach 2

Tidelines

Reef in Shadows

Lichen D

Cast Shadows

Approaching

Cory View

Circling

40 ÷ 40

40 ÷ 40 exhibition at An Lanntair

Forty works by forty artists over four decades of An Lanntair 
8 March to 17 May 2025.

When I heard this show was going to happen to celebrate 40 years of An Lanntair, I was delighted, for me as someone in the process of researching and collecting island contemporary art, it was a gift from heaven. And it didn’t disappoint.

It was great to see work from many of the artists I have recently been researching, plus a few more I’ll now need to add to my list.

Some great work from artists already represented in the Hulabhaig collection including Calum Angus Mackay, Danielle Macleod, Deljeem Rai, Mhairi Killin, Sandra Kennedy and Mary Morrison.

Sandra Kennedy 
Frasan Trocair (Mercy Showers), 2024. 

Mary Morrison 
My music is the music of your stones, 2025. 

Mhairi Killin 
The Pilgrimage, 2012. 

Also, it was a pleasure to see Important work from artists pivotal in placing island art in the mix of wider contemporary art including Donald Smith, Steve Dilworth, James Cumming RSA, Will Maclean RSA, Dalziel + Scullion and Julie Brook.

The 40 ÷ 40 exhibition at An Lanntair is a celebration of its 40 years of showcasing some exceptional contemporary art exhibitions. A retrospective revisit to past shows and a speculative look into the future.

“An anthology, comprised of works by 40 of the artists that An Lanntair have represented, encouraged and supported in various capacities over the past four decades. It includes pieces by some who are no longer with us, by established practitioners, and by others who are at an earlier stage in their practice.”

Donald Smith's painting ‘Iasgar Mòr: Fisherman’, is a wonderfully stylised depiction of a fisherman mending his nets, strong in stature with large powerful hands dextrously manipulating such tiny knots unseen in the impressionist brush strokes but clearly the focal point of the subjects undivided attention.

Donald Smith 
Iasger Mòr: Fisherman, circa 1970s. 

Other standout works for me included Gus Wylie’s Metagama: Memories of the Metagama, Laxay, Lewis 1981, Annie Cattrell’s Profile I & II, 2022, Ruth O’Dell’s Metamorphosis, 2021 and Mhairi Law’s Cliof: Cliff, 2015.

Gus Wylie
Metogama: Memories of the Metagama, Laxay, Lewis, 1981.

Annie Cattrell 
Profile I & II. 2022. 

Ruth O’Dell 
Metamorphosis, 2021. 

Mhairi Law 
Cliof: Cliff, 2015. 

I’ve only mentioned 16 of the 40 artists on show, but all are worthy of praise, as too is Roddy Murray for curating the show, because in my opinion this exhibition should be considered as an important marker for island contemporary art. And for me it’s a great reference point for further study and research into island art and its artists. Thank you An Lanntair.

Mary Morrison Studio Visit

Visiting an artist’s studio is a remarkable experience, there is an anticipation of expectation which you know will change once you are there, especially when you are there to add to your collection.

Having already met Mary Morrison a few times, I’d seen some of her work in group shows, but sadly, I’d missed her recent acclaimed solo show at &Gallery earlier this year. Further research had convinced me that her work should be included in the collection, but which artwork?

Her work in oils and mixed media are very much of place, the surrounding mountains, sea scapes and vast skies all feature in her work, but it’s the inclusion of human elements of communication and community such as maps, measurements, music and poetry that places you, the viewer at the very centre of her work.

Mary was born and raised on Harris, but just like so many young island artists, sought her creative direction on the mainland… Most of her adult life spent in the borders, her work was always seeking resolution and mostly informed by her island past, but it is now, having returned to her home and cultural heritage that she is able to reflect on past work as “…often created from a distance and through the lens of dislocation”.

Her new work is exciting and clearly developing in new directions, greatly informed by her island home.

“Now I am here, immersed in this landscape, I’m untangling the layers of identity relating to place, family, heritage, Gaelic language and community.”

There is a clear revisiting of ideas and reimagining of concepts, but now with the added sense of being in the right place.

Her success with recent shows and representation from &Gallery are an important factor, both to her and to island art in general. Her work is exceptional and unique, clearly broadcasting a sense of islandness and in my view highlights the importance of the visual arts to communicate our island culture to the wider global audience.

My studio visit was on a bright clear March afternoon, I met Mary at her cottage, overlooking the Harris sound, as we walked down to her studio at her parents house she pointed out the future location of her soon to be built ‘Live in Studio’.

You can’t beat the wonderful fast flowing onslaught of ideas and concepts that flows from an artist in their studio, as Mary was flicking through old archived work, offering insights into her creative process and influences, I was catching snippets of new directions in current work, thoughts on work that had stalled, work that was waiting for resolution, all while drinking in the smell of paint thickening the creative air. I could have spent all day listening, looking and sensing, but a choice had to be made…

My final selection was of three works, a selection purely based on the personal visual impact each work had on me during my visit. But each work I knew had more to tell. My own connection to the island differs from Mary’s in many ways but the absorbing emotions I was experiencing from these works echoed many of her own, I was looking forward to spending time with these works.

Seaforth, Oil and mixed media on canvas, was a work I had particularly liked, and knew it was a favourite of Mary’s as it hung in her own living room. My interest in visual art is as much an interest in the artist as it is in the work they produce so to include a work the artist personally would choose is important to me, but presents a problem for the artist, would they be willing to let it go?

I felt really honoured when Mary was more than happy to let me have it, knowing it was to become part of the Hulabhaig Collection of Island Contemporary Art, she knew it would be close and remain on the island.

The second work was Locus Amoenus
A mixed media work on paper using photo plate lithography to capture the embossed design of a book cover from the museum room at Traquair House, transformed into something beautifully intriguing and symbolic of a personal protected safe place or garden.

And finally ‘S Fhada Leam an Oidhche Gheamraidh (I Feel the Winter Night is Long), oil and mixed media on paper.

An absorbing work, evoking many emotions relating to islandness, for me, it reminds me of a difficult time, searching for my own personal escape, seeking a far off place to call home. For the artist it was the longing to return to her true place.

Both views are paralleled in this work, knowing your place is out there but out of reach. For Mary and myself, the place has now been reached. Such is the draw of island living and the power of art.

Sadly, this artwork was stretching my budget just a little too far, but I was absolutely delighted when Mary said I could have it on loan. Thank you so much.

And so, the collection grows.

Zodiac Journey

Exhibition at An Lanntair, running 8 Feb – 1 Mar 2025

A Ritual Journey by Jill Smith. Photographed by Mhairi Law.

Jill’s journey through the 12 signs of the zodiac engaged me more than I had expected. My normal disregard for astrology and its questionable study of celestial bodies, were overwhelmed by the very personal and clearly emotional responses that Jill has to her performed ‘actions’ and the deep spiritual and ritual connections she has with the collected items on display.

Leo - Fire, 23.07.24, TRAIGH NA BOSTADH, (Bosta Beach) Great Bernera, Isle of Lewis.

Twelve ‘actions’ were carefully performed over a 12 month period, each location providing a wonderful stage setting, her actions drawing on past experiences reflecting the many stories, myths and legends of these islands that have intrigued generations of visitors, pilgrims and islanders alike.

Cancer - Water, 02.07.24, Under the Sheela-na-Gig, RODEL CHURCH, Isle of South Harris.

Aries - Fire, 20.03.24, Beach by Tigh nan Cailleachean Dubha, Mealista, Isle of Lewis. (detail)

Capricorn - Earth, 09.01.24, At ‘OLD GRAND-MOTHER TURTLE’  rocks, Callanish, Isle of Lewis.

“ I was very surprised when, in February 2023, I was asked to carry out a year-long project as part of Fruitmarket’s 50-year celebrations. I felt very honoured, but also quite daunted – yet it was something I very much wanted to do. 

Although it was not something I would otherwise have thought of doing, it all fell into place very quickly. I knew the sites for each sign and what each should be about. It was perhaps something I had needed to do without realising it. I began working on the preparations immediately, so it has taken over a year and a half of my time. 

It was like a weaving – bringing together many different threads of my life into one whole. Outwardly it might seem that I brought in many elements from my days as a Performance Artist when I was known as Jill Bruce, but there have been so many other subtle but deep threads woven in. I have visited, and still visit, many of the chosen sites over and over again, year after year, in another form of journey; very quietly on my own, or years ago with my youngest son Taliesin, carrying out tiny little actions which had great meaning and which have now become part of this more public whole.“ 
Jill Smith - extract from the epilogue.

Scorpio - Water, 06.11.23 GRIMERSTA RIVER, Isle of Lewis.

 Elemental outfits (not costumes) used to carry out the 'actions..

Scorpio - Water, 06.11.23 GRIMERSTA RIVER, Isle of Lewis.

Libra - Air, 27.09.23 CALLANISH MAIN CIRCLE, Isle of Lewis.

Exhibition at An Lanntair, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.

Each action was closely followed and documented by Achmore based photographer Mhairi Law, providing a wonderful visual record of Jill’s monthly journey. 
A book is now available from the Fruitmarket website Click Here

More information about this project can be found on the Fruitmarket website. https://www.fruitmarket.co.uk/jill-smiths-zodiac-journey/

A Place for Island Contemporary Art

Call to Artists and Writers

Your chance to submit articles about Contemporary Art from the Scottish Isles.

Although Cruinneachadh Hulabhaig is primarily about collecting, documenting and showcasing Island Contemporary Art, I would also like to open up this platform for critical engagement and in doing so, help find our place within the wider Contemporary Arts culture.

So I'd like to invite artists, curators, writers and anyone with an interest in Island Contemporary Art to offer articles for publication here on this site. 

Considered articles must focus on Island Contemporary Art and could include personal reviews of art exhibitions, commentary on island art practice, essays on the history of island art or subjects relating to visual art's impact of island culture etc. etc.

Where budget allows fees will be offered inline with the Scottish Artists Union 2024 Recommended Rates of Pay.

Please get in touch if you would be interested in submitting an article for consideration. andy@hulabhaig.com