Island Expressions
Open Call
Calling all artists, photographers, creatives, makers, poets, and/or Gaelic singer/songwriters living in one of the following Island communities: Barra, Coll, Colonsay, Islay, Jura, Kerrera, Lismore, Mull, South Uist, or Tiree.
Is Scottish contemporary art only generated in the central belt? Does living rurally mean your creative outputs aren’t considered outwith your immediate locale? How would we, as islanders and artists, wish to portray our communities and how is this different from the ways in which arts organisations do so? How then, can we present a depiction of our land, its complex histories, and its people, across the west coast archipelago, through artistic practice, to new audiences?
Employing Dùthchas as a curatorial framework, exploring kincentric relationships between art, land, and community, we are seeking to bring together artwork, craft, and Gaelic and English poetry and song, from island communities which feed into, or are served by, Oban. Uniting in a contemporary mixed-media exhibition, at the Rockfield Centre this July, showcasing the beauty, alongside the challenges, of true island life.
For the islands, by the islanders, to non-islanders.
SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
Island Expressions
Exhibition
Island Expressions unites twenty-five creative practitioners, from twelve island communities surrounding Oban, in a contemporary showcase of artwork, craft, poetry and song.
Grounded in Dùthchas, an ancient Scottish Gaelic concept highlighting the profound connection between individuals, their land, language, and cultural heritage, this curatorial work shifts away from the transactional or extractive, de-centring the institution by challenging the implications of bringing external narratives to a community. Instead, Island Expressions seeks to highlight stories, artistic practices, and histories embedded within island communities, offering an opportunity for creatives within these disparate communities across Scotland’s west coast archipelago, to come together to share their work with new audiences.
In this way, the exhibited works do not only tell their own stories, but when presented together unite in kincentric and relational storytelling. The exhibition space fosters relationships connecting ancestorial influences, present community, and the wider landscape.
Situated within the socio-political sphere of the Hebrides, this is not a traditional exhibition. This is a platform for kinship through shared practice, an act of community building, facilitating an opportunity for Scottish island creatives to share their practice, voices, and island bonds, with new audiences.
For the islands, by islanders, to non-islanders.
Location: Sadie Hall, Stevenson St, Oban PA34 5NA
Opening Event: 6-9pm Friday 24th July
Exhibition Open:10am-4pm Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th July
