藝評

(An article written by participating artist Wong Ka Yin about an artist residency of Hong Kong artists in the Orkney Islands, United Kingdom. English translation originally published in Artomity magazine - SCROLL down for ENGLISH)

 

 

Above image:

島島共鳴 - 駐留藝術家 與 Soulisquoy Printmakers 藝術家合照

 

 

 

島島共鳴 - 藝術家駐留有感 

Resonance Islands - Linkshouse Orkney Arts Residency

文：黃嘉瀛 Wong Ka Ying

 

 

1/ 蘇格蘭最北海岸上的美術館 - Pier Arts Centre 

 

 

在奧克尼群島(Orkney Islands)有句古諺語：「只要你輕刮地面，考古文物就會浮現。」(if you scratch the surface in Orkney it will bleed archaeology.) 由多達70個小島組成的群島，面積約香港一半大，人口只有20000人，多年來卻盛產藝術家，又吸引不少外地藝術家移居小島，甚至在70年代尾建設了麻雀雖小但意義重大的美術館，那就是位處奧克尼群島第二大城鎮斯特羅姆內斯(Stromness)的Pier Arts Centre。

 

 

駐留藝術家黃嘉瀛、柏齊、文晶瑩在Pier Arts Centre留影

 

奧克尼群島於1999年由聯合國教科文組織授予世界遺產稱號，超過五千年歷史的新石器時代文化讓小島享有「北方埃及」的美譽，資訊極豐稍後分拆再敍。除了遠古文明，由於群島是重要的戰略地點，在歷史上大小戰爭中都扮演了重要角色，沿海小鎮們都有各自的英雄故事。其中斯特羅姆內斯雖說是第二大城鎮，但鎮上只有約2000人口，鎮內的主商業街道十五至二十分鐘即可走完。斯特羅姆內斯(Stromness)的名字沿自古挪威語 straumr nes, 意思是伸到大海浪潮之中的岬角。擋著強橫海風的老城區由用當地石材修建的住宅和店鋪分布組成，藝術家柏齊留意到街道兩旁的屋子邊角常被削去，原因是要讓出足夠空間讓來往小鎮的車子，通過狹窄而分叉的小道，二次世界大戰時因為要讓重型車輛進出及修建監視反制德軍水雷的設施，更是把主街最外圍的磚屋給拆去。斯特羅姆內斯最早的描述可追溯到16世紀，小鎮被記載為一個小酒館的地址，到了17世紀晚期，由於英法交戰船隻不得不避開英吉利海峽繞道，小鎮因地理位置繁榮起來，成為重要港口，加拿最古老的企業哈德遜灣公司(Hudson’s Bay Company)商船和北極捕鯨船就成了斯特羅姆內斯的常客，小鎮成了前往加拿大及西北航道的他們最後一個停靠港，島上的奧克尼人(Orcadian)理所當然就成了這些船隻的商人、探險者和水手。奧克尼人此稱謂可另開文章，關係到島民的歷史文化、政治及身份認同，意味深長，再贅。

 

 

Pier Arts Centre成立於1979年，是蘇格蘭最北的美術館，一海之隔就是世界上最北的博物館，位於挪威的Svalbard Museum。最令人神往的是美術館並不是由財閥巨擘或是政府主導設立，而是由反法西斯、反越戰的和平主義份子和作家Margaret Gardiner和藝術家朋友們一起建立的。當然Margaret Gardiner的家庭來頭也不小，她的父親是有份協助打開圖坦卡蒙墳墓的埃及學家，Margaret在劍橋大學畢業曾短暫擔任教師，其後在1930年代早期開始全力投入社運，並成為二次大戰時小部份往聖艾夫斯(St. Ives)尋求庇護的藝術家們的主要支持者，且於戰後大力支援英國新生代藝術家發展。1950年代她初次到訪奧克尼後便深深喜歡上島嶼，與本地的藝術家建立了日久的聯繫，後來購入了斯特羅姆內斯舊碼頭邊的兩層房子，改造來收藏她的現代繪畫和雕塑作品，以及讓島上藝術家作為工作室。Margaret Gardiner討厭被稱為收藏家，她的摯友，英國藝術家Barbara Hepworth又介紹了其他重要藝術家讓她認識，因為友誼和幫助藝術家，Margaret Gardiner 得以收集了一批非常個人且重要的藝術收藏，這些作品密切記錄了英國現代主義的發展，其後於1979年捐出了67件藏品，Pier Arts Centre由此成立。儘管規模不大，但Pier Arts Centre的館藏被認為是英國20世紀藝街最優秀的收藏之一，重要作品經常借展於世界各地展覽，收藏不斷增長，現已包含超過180件作品，包括Barbara Hepworth, Sean Scully, Eva Rothschild, Olafur Eliasson等人的藝術品，還有當地藝術家如Sylvia Wishart和Stanley Cursiter的作品。偏遠的小島上的美術館多年來一直支持本地年輕藝術家發展，這些以藝術為志業的年輕奧克尼人往外求學後，再回到出生地辦展覽意義非凡，我們是次參觀了出生和成長於奧克尼，剛畢業於Edinburgh College of Art主修繪畫的Leah Moodie的個展，很不錯看！

 

 

首次到訪Pier Arts Centre，我最喜歡的是1936年生於斯特羅姆內斯的Sylvia Wishart的畫作。Sylvia Wishart的畫多描畫奧克尼的自然景色：起伏的農田和多變的大海，和立於廣闊景色次中的燈塔、教堂、磨坊、碼頭、農莊和城堡。在小鎮長大的Sylvia Wishart本於鎮上的郵局工作，閒時才畫畫表達對出生地深刻的愛，後來在朋友鼓勵下1955年才到亞伯丁(Aberdeen)的Gray''s School of Art求學，大放異彩，畢業後拿著Scottish Arts Council的資助又回到家鄉專心畫畫，直到1969年返回Gray''s School of Art教學，教了差不多廿年，許多蘇格蘭的藝術家、Pier Arts Centre的現任館長、以至香港藝術家谷敏超和Joe Fan都是她的學生。

 

 

Sylvia Wishart的繪畫、絲網印刷和蝕刻版畫記錄了奧克尼的季節變換、農業和野生動植物景觀、橫跨海峽的壯麗風景，遠處山丘的陡峭懸崖以及蘇格蘭的壯闊土地。我最印象深刻的是她在腦海中用幻想將在室外寫生，與在室內觀測到外面陰晴不定的天氣和景象細節在構圖上相結合，然後藉描畫窗戶及其反映出的室內家居倒影融為一體，並利用顏料和紋理來構建層次和形狀或是留些空白，以喚起觀者對農作物和本土景觀的聯想。Sylvia Wishart就算長年在外教學都會趁假期回到奧克尼創作，並將斯特羅姆內斯港口前的一個舊倉庫改造成為住所和工作室，後來協助她好朋友Margaret Gardiner將這古屋變成Pier Arts Centre。她人生最後的三十年都長居此地，持續創作出受永恒變化、面靠汪洋的田野景觀啟發的繪畫和版畫。

 

我們幾位香港藝術家受位處斯特羅姆內斯的Pier Arts Centre邀請到島上駐留，融入島嶼生活，藉創作、工作坊和分享會與當地居民進行文化交流。駐留計劃是第一次接待來自香港的藝術家，第一個星期就上了當地報紙，還有機會到島上唯一電台BBC Radio Orkney受訪，非常榮幸。接下來會講講奧克尼群島的考古見聞和風土人情。

 

2/ 穿越時空的版畫印刷 - 探訪 Soulisquoy Printmakers

 

 

我們駐留團隊非常榮幸能參觀到Pier Arts Centre的版畫工作室Soulisquoy Printmakers。負責導賞的經理Carol本身也是版畫藝術家，除了管理美術館和自己創作外，也負責工作室的營運。疫情期間工作室召集了一班有興趣學習版畫的本地年青人，開始研集不同的版畫印刷技術，承繼這所版畫室的工藝和精神，到訪當天他們正在進行定期練習和創作。奧克尼群島人少，Carol都很高興小島竟然能建立起到今天仍持續營運的版畫小隊，他們的實驗和成品水平都很高，風格各有不同，各人也在計劃下一個創作，躍躍欲試。

 

 

為什麼說是承繼呢？上次提到斯特羅姆內斯是個小鎮，但短短幾個鋪位之隔就有兩所版畫工作室，不約而同地都專注創作凸版印刷(Letterpress)（另一所工作室叫Vintage Paper，Instagram上粉絲很多，也做手造書和做印花），原因或許在Soulisquoy Printmakers裡可找到。

 

 

一踏入工作室我們馬上看到一台碩大又古舊的金屬印刷機。這台印刷機就是大名鼎鼎的哥倫比亞式印刷機(Columbian Press)，因為頭頂大鷹，又有人稱其為Eagle Press。雖然年代久遠，滿佈機身的華麗裝飾仍清晰可見，機械更是運作良好。哥倫比亞式印刷機由美國人George Clymer於1813年發明，是世上第一台鐵製印刷機，印刷由杠杆推動。Soulisquoy Printmakers現在收藏的哥倫比亞式印刷機於18世紀蘇格蘭製造，1870年左右由斯特羅姆內斯印刷商Wiliam Rendall引入，輾轉百多年最後落戶Soulisquoy Printmakers。這台機印刷過當年出版的The Stromness News報紙，在工作室旁的Stromness Museum正在展出1884年的報紙實物，現在印刷機又再傳到新一代奧克尼人手中，仍然頻繁使用作活字印刷和凸版印刷，製作屬於這個時代的出版物，具體的承傳和保育實踐令人感動。Soulisquoy Printmakers工作室由當地版畫藝術家於1982年成立，本身都有四十餘年歷史，除了Carol和年青小隊，樓上還有版畫藝術家的工作室，日常營運由義工隊伍負責，定期舉行開放日和工作坊，希望保留奧克尼的印刷工藝，鼓勵新一代版畫創作，製作真正來自奧克尼、屬於奧克尼的思想和紀錄。

 

3/ 做足200年獨家的新聞社 - 一個島只有一份報紙The Orcadian

 

18世紀以島上哥倫比亞式印刷機印製的The Stromness News，因為管理不善和本地新聞短缺，只維持出版6個月就停刊了，出版社改為專注印刷書藉、小冊子、海報和政府告示，繼續服務奧克尼超過100年。事實上島上有另一份歷史更悠久、奧克尼最長歷史的報紙，二百年後的今天，仍然為島上居民報導大小新聞，那就是The Orcadian了。

 

 

The Orcadian報紙創立於1854年，一開始是份月報，之後改成週報（大家可想而知奧克尼群島是多麼的風平浪靜，新聞可堆一星期才報一次，最大的新聞通常是交通意外、鯨魚擱淺，還有公投）。The Orcadian 前身是島上的黃頁廣告，最先由人手抄寫，後來在島上活字印刷，現時報紙不在奧克尼印刷，每星期在格拉斯哥(Glasgow)印好後送返島上逢星期四發售。二次世界大戰時，The Orcadian是島上非常重要的資訊來源，70多個島之間的戰事最新狀況，包括興建堤壩、軍營、軍事設施、士兵駐紮、傷亡等，都靠報紙傳訊，當時還因此出版了戰爭號外Orkney Blast。The Orcadian本來不是島上唯一報紙，報社曾經還有過競爭對手The Orkney Herald，經過100年後到1960年代競爭對手就倒閉了，成為島上獨家報紙到2003年又曇花一現了另一份Orkney Today直到2007年，因為流通率太低，也賣不到錢，Orkney Today倒閉，The Orcadian又剩下自己一個。

 

 

 The Orcadian報紙拼貼詩工作坊  The Orcadian newspaper collage poetry workshop

 

我們駐留的第一個工作坊由黃嘉瀛帶領，招募了當地居民一同以The Orcadian報紙作創作材料，拼貼出新詩、故事書和小誌(Zine)。意想不到的是，在人口密度奇低的奧克尼招生還是可以滿座。參加者身份各有不同，一同在有意識和無意識之間發掘潛意識中的新念頭，在短短數小時內就做出漂亮的成品。考古學家認為歷史是重複的，在發掘遺址的同時閱讀每天的戰爭新聞，她相信時間最終會帶來和平；每年來奧克尼靜休的退休教師，她的朋友最近發現身患絕症，使她在報紙上的訃告和死亡新聞之間思考Farewell的意義；作家因創作到達瓶頸，回到出生地奧克尼尋求突破，讀到海洋的新聞就想到生命和居所的連繫，何去何從的命題；The Orcadian的記者本身都是詩人，他從一開始就對工作坊滿有興趣，因為工作關係，很快便從報紙上收集到他認為具詩意的句子拼湊在一起；還有三位年輕的藝術學生，非常認真地作起有關在奧克尼渡過暑假的Visual Diary。我們的藝術家文晶瑩創作了以島上花卉為題的拼貼，與其駐留創作的紀念花圈有關；謝淑婷則專心收集報紙上的奧克尼野生動物，野兔、海鸚鵡(Puffin)、海獅、鯨魚，都是她做布偶的靈感；謝淑妮研究再生能源，報紙上理性的潮汐新聞和感性的星座解讀相映成趣，拼在一起就成了浪漫的月亮天文小誌。

 

工作坊是駐留計劃中能讓藝術家面對面與當地居民深入交流的重要機會，非常感恩Orcadian對香港來的我們這麼感興趣，以藝術創作直白交流跨越語言和文化背景的思想和感受，一起渡過了一個快樂的週末。

 

 

4/ 不是英國人也不是蘇格蘭人 - 「我哋係Orcadian」

 

島島共鳴 - 駐留藝術家 (左起：謝淑婷、謝淑妮、文晶瑩、黃嘉瀛、柏齊)與Pier Arts Centre代表合照

 

Linkshouse Orkney Arts Residency所在的百年老房子

 

 

謝淑妮駐留期間的雕塑創作有關奧尼克群島的潮汐發電和月亮

 

謝淑婷將香港照片帶到奧尼克群島進行藍曬

 

  

島島共鳴 - 駐留藝術家分享會

 

柏齊創作的奧尼克群島大街全景攝影拼貼作品  Orkney street photo landscape collage by photographer Pak Chai.

 

講完藝術館講完報紙，接下來講身份認同。

 

 

The Orcadian報紙命名直接了當，說明本身就是為本地人服務的報刊，這個本地人不是蘇格蘭人，不是英國人，只指涉奧克尼人(Orcadian)。紅色底色上有黃邊藍十字置中，這枚2007年公投勝出的島旗，紅色和黃色的顏色是來自蘇格蘭和挪威的皇家徽章，旗幟象徵著奧克尼群島的蘇格蘭和挪威傳統，而藍色則取自蘇格蘭國旗，同時代表了海洋和島嶼，結合以上，正好解釋由歷史發展到文化遺產積累至今而來的Orcadian獨特身份認同。

 

 

奧克尼群島上的居民從不認為自己是蘇格蘭人或是英國人，而認為自己的身份歸屬於Mainland，這個Mainland不是指十四英里外的蘇格蘭大陸，而是群島中人口最多的島嶼群，部份島嶼現在由一系列在二戰時由邱吉爾下令興建的堤壩連接起來，其餘小島則靠渡輪連結。奧克尼群島的歷史可以追溯到5000多年前的新石器時代，期後在中世紀也受到了挪威人的深遠文化和政治影響，島上代代相傳的奧克尼人傳奇故事與同時期的維京時代傳奇故事如《Heimskringla》非常相似，為Orcadian的身份認同提供了全面且具體的歷史民族意識。

 

 

在奧克尼，慎終追遠和考古尋源是社區生活結構不可分割的部分，居民的屋子和農舍多年來就坐落在史前史後定居者的石屋群落旁邊或是遺跡之上，至今亦然。譬如奧克尼有歐洲現存最古老最完整、距今5000多年的新石器時代村落Skara Brae，證明了Orcadian的文明與古埃及文明、蘇美爾文明和印度的哈拉帕文明屬同一時期，比中國黃金時代還早了一、兩個世紀。除了Skara Brae，奧克尼島上其實到處都是以數千年計的古蹟遺址，例如是公元前3000年建成的Maeshowe墓室群落、與英格蘭巨石陣（Stonehenge）同期建成的Ring of Brodgar布羅德蓋石圈，以及這個暑假進行最後一次發掘後會重新掩蓋的Ness of Brodgar等，還有鐵器時代到中世紀到世界大戰一路留下來的教堂、皇宮、石碑、炮台、歷史事件和神話傳說，奧克尼面積雖小，但慕名而來的考古學家差點要比居民多，因此群島經常被稱為蘇格蘭的龐貝或是北方的埃及。奧克尼的人民透過這些種種與祖先有形地聯繫，日常生活就置身於長年的發掘、考據和保育之中，是構成島民身份的重要基礎。

 

 

在華文世界搜尋「奧克尼群島」，基本上清一式都是有關2023年這地方的議會向外宣布不排除脫離英國，想要回歸歷史上淵源更深的挪威或尋求自治的新聞。奧克尼由8世紀開始是丹麥與挪威王國的領土，可是到了1472年，丹麥公主瑪格麗特嫁給蘇格蘭國王詹姆斯三世，因為不夠錢便以奧克尼群島和謝德蘭群島(Shetland)作為嫁妝做抵押品，奧克尼從此成為蘇格蘭的一部分，但奧克尼一直保留著北歐淵源的社會特色，甚至仍然會慶祝挪威獨立紀念日。

 

 

可以這麼大口氣說要脫英，除了歷史底氣，當然還要島上擁有可以自給自足的豐饒資源。奧克尼群島四面環海，處處農田，雨水充足，畜牧、農業、漁業及旅遊業都能賺錢；能源方面，奧克尼1970年代成為了英國北海石油的加工中心，近年更成為生產海上風電綠能和潮汐能等再生能源發電的國際領頭指標。奧克尼雖然自1960年代起時不時就提起脫英，又沿用自家島旗、方言，大力宣揚祖宗歷史，為身為奧克尼人而驕傲，可是The Orcadian發起的民調顯示只有一半人口支持分權自治，更多人其實只是想向英國政府爭取更多地區預算分配而已。我們駐留期間正值英國投票日，偶有支持蘇格蘭獨立的候選人站街拉票，政治氣氛同人口數字成正比，投票前後日子如常。

 

 

有關奧克尼的中文資料不多，這亦是是次交流計劃具重要價值的地方：島島交流、島島共鳴。香港人未必聽過奧克尼，可是奧克尼人卻個個認識香港，我們遇過到香港探親的、經香港轉機的、到香港工作的、居住過在香港和因此組織了家庭的奧克尼人，他們對香港新聞和現況都甚為掌握和關心。轉了三程機才能到達的地方，在物理意義上的確和香港地天各一方，但在精神意義上，卻沒有想像中那樣遠。我們會陸續訴說在奧克尼遇上的人和事、駐留期間的藝術創作，希望多一點背景資料，讓大家讀起來更有共鳴。

Resonance Islands - Linkshouse Orkney Arts Residency

by Wong Ka Ying 

 

There is an ancient saying on the Orkney Islands: “If you scratch the surface in Orkney, it will bleed archaeology.” This group of about 70 small islands is slightly smaller than Hong Kong but home to only 20,000 people. Despite its small size, Orkney has long produced artists and attracted creatives from elsewhere to its shores. In 1979, a modest yet significant art gallery was established, the Pier Arts Centre, in Stromness, Orkney’s second-largest town.

 

Scotland’s northernmost art gallery, it’s a sea away from the Svalbard Museum in Norway, the world’s northernmost museum. The gallery was not created by wealthy elites or set up by the government but by Margaret Gardiner, an anti-fascist, anti-Vietnam War pacifist and writer, alongside her artist friends. Gardiner descended from a prominent family – her father was an Egyptologist involved in the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. After graduating from Cambridge University, she briefly worked as a teacher and then, from the early 1930s onwards, devoted herself to social activism. She was also a major supporter of the artists who sought refuge in the southwestern English town of St Ives during World War II and continued to champion the development of emerging British artists after the war. Her first visit to Orkney in the 1950s left a lasting impression on her, leading to long-standing relationships with local artists. She purchased a two-storey house by the old pier in Stromness, transforming it into a space to store her collection of modern paintings and sculptures, and a studio for local artists.

 

Margaret Gardiner disliked being called a collector. Her close friend, British artist Barbara Hepworth, introduced her to many significant artists. Through friendship and as a means to support them, Gardiner began to acquire an important personal art collection. An archive of the development of British modernism, it later became the foundation of the Pier Arts Centre through her first donation, in 1979, of 67 pieces. Despite its small size, the Pier Arts Centre has one of the finest collections of 20th-century British art, with many pieces often loaned to international exhibitions. It has grown to include more than 180 works, featuring artists such as Hepworth, Sean Scully, Eva Rothschild and local talents such as Sylvia Wishart and Stanley Cursiter. The gallery on this remote island supports the development of young local artists, many of whom return to Orkney after studying elsewhere to hold exhibitions. We attended the solo exhibition of locally born-and-bred artist Leah Moodie, a recent painting graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, which was excellent.

 

During my visit to the Pier Arts Centre for the first time, I particularly admired the works of Wishart, who was born in 1936 in Stromness. Her paintings primarily depict Orkney’s landscapes – rolling farmlands, a dynamic sea and solitary lighthouses, churches, mills, docks, farms and castles in vast surroundings. She grew up in Stromness, working at the town’s post office while painting in her spare time to express her deep love for her birthplace. Encouraged by friends, she enrolled at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen in 1955, where she was a leading light. Her paintings, silkscreen prints and etchings documented Orkney’s changing seasons, agricultural and wildlife scenes, the dramatic views across straits, steep cliffs and the majestic Scottish landscapes. What impressed me the most was how she combined outdoor sketches with detailed observations of Orkney’s unpredictable weather and scenery seen from indoors, through windows as well as the reflections on the windows, while merging the two. She used paint and texture to construct layers and shapes or simply left areas of space blank to evoke the island’s crops and native landscapes. 

 

While she taught for years away from her hometown, Wishart would always return to Orkney during holidays to work on her art. She transformed an old warehouse by Stromness harbour into her home and studio, later helping Gardiner to turn it into the Pier Arts Centre. Wishart taught at Gray’s School of Art from 1969 for nearly two decades, influencing many Scottish artists and students, including Pier Arts Centre’s current director Neil Firth and even Hong Kong artists such as Christopher Ku and Joe Fan. For the last 30 years of her life, she lived on the islands and kept creating drawings and prints inspired by Orkney’s ever-changing landscapes, where fields meet the sea. 

 

I led our first workshop during the residency. Local residents were recruited to use The Orcadian, the island’s only newspaper, as material to make collages of poems, storybooks and zines. Surprisingly, even in such a sparsely populated area, the workshop was full. Participants from all walks of life came together to explore new ideas in their conscious and unconscious minds, creating beautiful works in just a few hours. 

 

An archaeologist said that history was repetitive. She had excavated a site while reading daily news on wars. She was of the belief that time would eventually bring peace. A retired teacher who came to Orkney every year for quiet reflection found herself pondering the meaning of farewell, prompted by obituaries in the newspaper and news of a friend’s terminal illness. A writer stuck in a creative rut returned to Orkney, his birthplace, to find inspiration. Reading the news about the ocean brought to his mind the connection between life and home, and the question of where to go next. A reporter from The Orcadian, who was also a poet, had been interested in the workshop from the start. He quickly gathered poetic sentences from the newspaper, piecing them together with speed due to his professional familiarity with the material. Three young art students, meanwhile, earnestly worked on their visual diaries documenting their summer on Orkney. Our artist Phoebe Man created a collage of island flowers related to her residency project on commemorative wreaths, while Sara Tse focused on collecting newspaper images of the Orkney wildlife – wild hares, puffins, sea lions, whales – that inspired her soft sculptures. Shirley Tse explored the theme of renewable energy, combining news about tides with emotional astrology readings to create a romantic zine about the moon and astronomy.

 

Workshops such as these are vital in a residency, allowing artists to engage meaningfully with local residents. We are grateful for the interest Orcadians showed in us. By creating art, we transcended the boundaries of language and cultural background to communicate our thoughts and feelings directly, and spent a delightful weekend together. 

 

Although the population is small, Orkney has produced a remarkable number of artists, undoubtedly related to its stunning natural landscapes and ample living space. There are more sheep than people on the islands and no shortage of land. During our residency, we often encountered artists in various places. Due to a lack of workers, some people might teach in the morning, work at a museum at noon and still have time to go home to create art before sunset. Others, in their 60s, attend art or archaeology courses at the community college out of interest, and in their spare time might work as tour guides or farmers, or take on various odd jobs. The manager of the gallery hosting us is also a print artist, the radio host who interviewed us is also an English teacher at a local school and the museum receptionist is a mature university student. Setting aside healthcare, weather and geographic distance, such a lifestyle is quite enviable: a place with advanced urban infrastructure and community planning but without the stifling fast pace of city life. Many young families are moving to Orkney with their children, hoping to raise them in a natural, low-stress environment.

 

In the first few days after we arrived, Phoebe Man, who had come ahead of us, led us on a hike to familiarise ourselves with the surroundings. She had already told us that the local thrift shops were interesting, which was a pleasant surprise for our group of artists, as many of us are fond of antiques and second-hand goods. For example, Pak Chai and Shirley enjoy historical stories and Sara collects vintage items. In my own art practice, I consciously divide materials into two categories. For commercial events or gallery works, I use new, mass-produced materials; but for community or nonprofit projects, I collect second-hand items that I come across by chance, which often have their own stories. The gift economy is reflected in the circulation of objects within the community, where things that no longer serve one person find their way to someone who needs them. Some objects carry personal or community stories, becoming tangible history through the passage of time and oral traditions. By transforming these objects in an artistic way, I give them a new life beyond their original purpose, adding layers of interpretation and appreciation, while increasing the potential for their stories to be passed down. Of course, there are some beautiful antiques that I am reluctant to alter, fearing I might destroy their inherent beauty due to my modest abilities. I prefer to collect the cheapest, most neglected and often broken second-hand items for my re-creations.

 

We visited the thrift shops in Orkney regularly, and each visit brought new surprises. I especially paid attention to items that were stuck on a shelf or objects that appeared in multiple shops in similar styles, as these reflect a kind of collective taste or lifestyle, which could be tied to local culture, customs or the after-effects of surplus production and marketing by large companies. One of my most vivid memories is stepping into a second-hand shop and hearing a popular old song playing on the radio. Before the song ended, we left the shop and walked into the next one, where the same radio station was playing the same song. At the third store, I finally heard the radio host’s voice – same street, same island, same local radio station and a shared rhythm of life. After observing and collecting for over a month, I became particularly fond of the pet-themed jigsaw puzzles and mirror hangings. Both are declarations of love meant to be displayed at home – uncool, direct, cute and somewhat useless, making them perfect for re-creation.

 

The house we stayed in had plenty of studio space, allowing each artist to fully focus on their work. Such a luxury is unimaginable in Hong Kong. Although our residency was not long, the work-life balance and the relaxed pace of life, with the town winding down by 4pm, greatly increased our productivity. While there are a few art supplies shops on Orkney, they are not the professional kind you might imagine, and some specialised supplies still need to be ordered by mail or brought in from elsewhere. But this didn’t dampen the creative spirit and drive of the artists. In addition to working on our own projects, we participated in a workshop at a local print studio, learning 18th-century techniques to create Pride Month posters.

 

Not long after our return to Hong Kong, we heard that the UK government was slashing its arts funding due to the weak economy. In response, Scottish artists organised petitions and gatherings, urging the government to reconsider. The historical print studio on the island, which has not been profitable for years, relies heavily on government support for education and conservation efforts. They quickly issued a statement, hoping the government would rethink its decision. In a community where both a free market and gift economy coexist, even a remote island like Orkney cannot escape the constraints and influence of larger systems.

 

There is not much information about Orkney available in Chinese, which is one of the reasons why this exchange programme holds so much value: island-to-island dialogue and resonance. Hongkongers might not have heard of Orkney but Orkney residents seem to know Hong Kong quite well. We met people who had visited relatives in Hong Kong, passed through Hong Kong on a layover, worked there or even lived in Hong Kong and started families as a result. They are well informed and concerned about the current events and news coming out of Hong Kong. A place it takes three flights to reach from Hong Kong might seem worlds apart in a physical sense, but in terms of spiritual significance, the distance between the two is shorter that one would imagine. We will continue to recount the people we met, the events we experienced and the art we created during our residency, in the hope that with a little more background knowledge, readers will see themselves in our stories.