The exhibition will be a showcase for the creative elements of the Arora project as well as being an exploration of memory and oral history through archive footage, collections of artefacts from the Highland Folk Museum and artists responses to working with people living with dementia.
Among the exhibits will be our PHD ‘Intelligent textiles student Lucy Robertson collaborative ‘Sonic Flock’, the International photographic project ‘Eyes as Big as Plates’, the Harris Oral history project, archive images from the School of Scottish studies, commissioned pieces from our Uist based artists, Gina MacDonald, Kate MacDonald and Margaret Joan MacIssac and pieces created alongside people living with dementia by photographer Mhairi Law.
Eyes as Big as Plates
Eyes as Big as Plates is the ongoing collaborative project between the Finnish-Norwegian artist duo Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth. Starting out as a play on characters from Nordic folklore, Eyes as Big as Plates has evolved into a continual search for modern human’s belonging to nature. The series is produced in collaboration with retired farmers, fishermen, zoologists, plumbers, opera singers, housewives, artists, academics and ninety year old parachutists. Since 2011 the artist duo has portrayed seniors in Norway, Finland, France, US, UK, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, Japan and Greenland. Each image in the series presents a solitary figure in a landscape, dressed in elements from surroundings that indicate neither time nor place. Here nature acts as both content and context: characters literally inhabit the landscape wearing sculptures they create in collaboration with the artists.
Harris Oral History Project
Our contribution to Cuimhne will tell the story of the ongoing Harris Oral History Project which focuses on recording, archiving and sharing memories and documents relating to community land ownership in Harris. As well as a poster, we will bring a memory box, a short film and a collection of audio recordings.
Named ‘Stone and Earth, A’Clach ‘s an Talamh’ after the ancient practice of sassine which was revived by Simon Fraser following the North Harris buyout, the project has gathered together audio and video recordings, photographs and documents from local people as well as sourcing archival materials such as maps and West Highland Survey township cards.
Highland Folk Museum artefacts
The Highland Folk museum in Kingussie has lent a curated selection of everyday artefacts, originally collected from the Outer Hebrides. The objects relate to the Woven Communities project and are of interest for their construction, material and use. They are a Mudag (an egg shaped basket for holding wool), Ciosan (a marram grass grain meal basket), Muran Sguab (marram grass brush) Puffin Snare from St.Kilda and Horse Hair rope
Sonic Flock
The Sonic flock is a collaborative piece initiated by a conversation between Uist artist and knitter Gina MacDonald and intelligent textile researcher Lucy Robertson. The call has gone out to knitters all over the island and the UK to create a multitude of individual knitted and stitched birds for the flock, some of which will receive a sonic addition.