CRITIC’S CHOICE

CONFLUENCE of North is the result of a year-long exchange between artists in Japan and Scotland – which, like so many other things this last year, was swiftly adapted to an online project – to explore the idea of North.

The idea came about when Scottish artist Sue Grierson was on a residency in Fukushima in 2013, two years after the devastating tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster which had devastated the area. A frequent visitor to Japan, she had previously worked there with refugees, creating work which responded to their connection to the land, which work she then showed, at their request, in Perth Concert Hall. Amidst the many cultural responses to the disaster, Japanese artist Maruyama Yoshiko began his project Spirit of North in the same year that Grierson visited Fukushima, and the two have continued to converse since that date. Yoshiko’s work, above, connects artists around the world who have an idea of North, something which is not dependent on being in the Northern hemisphere, but rather perhaps north as a direction, as a part of being, and conditional on one’s notion of place in relation to somewhere else.

Over the past year, four artists from Scotland and four from Japan have paired up to create collaborative work exploring this idea of place, with the resulting works now on display in Stornoway as part of the Faclan Book Festival, with work having already been show in Fukushima and Nishiaizu Town in Japan. Whilst Covid put paid to in-person collaboration, the steep learning curve of online collaboration has resulted in unique works, Su Grierson believes. “Bringing artwork made digitally across the world to Lewis is a significant achievement in our ongoing connections and understanding of what North means to us all.”

Confluence of North: Spirit of North, An Lanntair, Kenneth Street, Stornoway,

Isle of Lewis, 01851 708480 www. lanntair.com Until 27 Nov, Tues - Thurs, 10am-5pm; Fri - Sat, 10am-late