'A playful take on islandness’ shines through in Council public arts showcase

A cultural feast of public art supported by Orkney Islands Council awaits locals and visitors alike during the 2025 Orkney International Island Games. 

From 2 July, folk will notice art installations popping up in windows overlooking the winding cobbled ‘main street’ of Stromness. 

 All the ‘Stromness Street Gallery’ artworks have been submitted by members of the Orkney public, some based on the concept of ‘games’. Over 30 artists are exhibiting around 50 artworks installed across 23 participating properties - many of them local householders - over coming days.

Also part of the Street Gallery, Móti Collective – a group of art graduates who have either studied in, returned to, or chosen to base themselves in Orkney – will also be exhibiting on the theme of ‘Games’ at Northlight Gallery. The exhibition will feature work from nine members of the collective, named after the Norse word ‘moti’ meaning 'towards; to meet' - each interpreting the theme in a unique way, including through painting, embroidery, photography, sculpture and playable games.  

Delighting another set of senses, the visual art at Northlight will be accompanied by Island Soonds, an inventive and playful sound piece by Orcadian composer Brian Cromarty, also commissioned by Orkney Islands Council.      

The exhibition at Northlight Gallery will be open from 10 am to 5 pm daily from 14 to 27 July, with a preview on Sunday 13 July from 7 pm to 9 pm. 

Over in Kirkwall, signs of the Island Games cultural offering are also cropping up. Pop to The Orkney Museum to see creative ‘bunting’ in the form of sports shirts in the courtyard – by students from UHI Orkney’s NC Art and Design course and Stromness Academy secondary pupils.  

To the rear of the Museum, in the wonderful Tankerness House Gardens, folk will notice installations by four UHI Fine Arts degree students Yvonne Harcus, Evie Donaldson, Emilia Gheorghe and Frances Roebuck - until 21 July. (Please note some artworks are taken indoors overnight).

And finally, Orkney’s most iconic building St Magnus Cathedral is the focal point where key projects converge. Island Voices, created by Scrivener Gabrielle Barnby, is a collection of written word gathered from across participating island groups on the theme of islandness and presented in a special souvenir booklet.  

The Island Voices project also spawned hundreds of Haiku – 17 syllable poetry – celebrating islandness, which are being displayed in Games venues and athlete accommodation. 

Snippets from the Island Voices project have been incorporated into Brian Cromarty’s Island Soonds soundscape and installed throughout the Cathedral, allowing visitors to hear the distinct accents, languages and dialects from around the world that are part of the Island Games family. 

These sounds will echo alongside the visual extravaganza of the St Magnus Sails – a large scale collaborative installation comprising fourteen 4.2m high sails made in 1993 for the St Magnus Festival and strung from the Cathedral’s dramatic vaulted ceiling. They were last exhibited in 2017. 

The St Magnus Sails are painted with images inspired by a series of one-line poems, specially written for the project by George Mackay Brown on the theme of Earl Rognvald's epic voyage to Jerusalem in 1151 – by artists Andrew Parkinson, Erlend Brown, Dave Jackson and Mary Scott. They can be experienced until 6 August.

Both Island Voices and Island Soonds willl be launched at a special event on Thursday 17 July at 7:30pm in the St Magnus Centre. The event will include an ‘open mic’ with Gaby and a talk about the soundscape with Brian. 

All projects have been supported by Orkney Islands Council’s Arts Development service and all are welcome to the accompanying launch events.