Remembering Together - COVID19 memorial for Orkney

Local Communities Join With Artists To Commemorate the Impact of Covid on Orkney

(from left to right, Louise Barrington, Megumi Barrington, Ros Bryant, Jake Ghaleb)

5 memorials, co-designed by artists and local community members, are being brought to life across the archipelago as part of Remembering Together, a national project to honour those lost to COVID in the region and provide a community place for reflection.

Details of artists and locations below:

Sanday - Jake Ghaleb 
Flotta - Ros Bryant 
Kirkwall and Shapinsay - Louise and Megumi Barrington 
North Ronaldsay - North Ronaldsay Development Trust in partnership with local artisan

Remembering Together is a national project that seeks to give each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities the chance to reflect their unique experience of the Covid-19 pandemic with the help of commissioned artists and creative organisations. Voluntary Action Orkney (VAO) supported by Orkney Islands Council (OIC), are working in collaboration with Greenspace Scotland to bring the project to life.  This involves the appointment of 5 commissioned artists and artisans who are working with communities to collaborate on the finished memorials.  This strong community co-creative focus will mean a sense of ownership for the various communities that house the works.

The spaces will be emerging across the width and breadth of the Orkney Islands. From North Ronaldsay in the far north, to Flotta, south of Mainland Orkney. All but one space will be on an inner or outer island, reflecting the desire for the works to be in small island communities. All memorials will offer local folk a way to rest, to allow for quiet contemplation and also to come together.

Orkney serves a community of approximately  22,000 across a group of 21 Islands - with the COVID pandemic affecting different islands and communities in a myriad of ways.  The series of 5 memorials  reflect this diversity of experiences, whilst also celebrating a common sense of strength and resilience that is inherent in the island communities.  This informed the use of stone across all projects, using sustainable material that will ensure these memorials will be lasting amid any weather.

Throughout 2022 during phase one, artists Emma Ainsley and John Phillips embarked on a series of community engagements across Orkney, consulting groups such as Flotta Community Cafe, Shapinsay Lunch Club and Holm Be Active Live Long (B.A.L.L).  Through these meetings, the artists were able to collaboratively imagine the type of memorials that would best reflect their experience of the pandemic, as well as continue to serve the community.  Common findings across groups included an accessible, outdoor space for reflection that included seating and that could also offer shelter from winds.

Whilst each memorial is different, there is a common dedication to incorporate into the wider landscape and ecosystem.  On Sanday, artist Jake Ghaleb is creating a photographic book and exhibition that will authentically speak to the community’s experience of Covid.  Made in tandem with the wider community, this memorial takes form as a Photo Gallery in the community room corridor, a focal point for activities on the island.  Community members continue to work with Jake on the project and photos will be displayed in colour in the space, and in black and white within the book.  The book also contains a series of journal and diary entries, that gives first hand accounts from residents about the emotional experience of the pandemic. 

Ros Bryant, lead artist for Flotta project is using her over 20 years’ experience in woven tapestry and stone carving to create a specialised standing stone area.  During consultation, the community, which she described as having a ‘go for it’ attitude, embarked on a period of excavation which included sourcing stone from the surrounding shore areas and quarry.  Ros has worked with them since to design a sheltered stone space, dug into the ground, where there will be standing stone elements, carved with letters and patterns.  The carvings in stone made by residents tell stories about the land, such as a sheep’s head representing the properties where a sheet was historically put on the peat bank to call folk to work with the sheep in the communal grazing on the West Hill.

In North Ronaldsay, an open circular stone space will be created adjacent to the ancient sheep dyke that surrounds the island. Inspired by the traditional circular drystone structures on the island the form also holds the concept of encasement, shelter and safety expressed by community members in response to their island’s felt distance from the experiences and impacts of the pandemic.  This installation will be completed in association with a local artisan drystone waller - and is set to be a circular space that is reminiscent of the kelp drying places that are now used for shelter. 

In Shapinsay, Louise and Megumi are working with community members and groups to design a space bringing elements of wood and stone together. In response to a community desire for places to plant things, as a place of growing and nurture, the space will have areas for planting and the design will respond to an exploration of the changing seasons. The artists are keen to explore the idea of a Renga space, inspired by the Renga platform concept, conceived by Alec Finlay in 1999, and designed by Alec and David Connearn - a space apart from the everyday, a space for rest and contemplation as well as a space for shared creative activity.
The artists have begun preparations for installation across the five sites which will begin installation later this year, all of which will serve as a space for future generations to come together and reflect. 

Emma Gee, Arts Officer for Orkney Islands Council said, “Remembering Together: Orkney is gathering pace at the moment with progress on all five projects.  We are delighted that planning permission has been successful for Flotta, and we await the outcome for the projects in Shapinsay, Mainland and North Ronaldsay.  Meanwhile community engagement is underway in readiness for the build phase of these projects. 

Over in Sanday the revised project is emerging, producing some incredibly moving portraiture and accounts of the experience of Covid.  We are excited to be delivering what communities said they wanted from Phase 1, which was a series of site-specific, community focussed points of contemplation.  We can’t wait for the community sharing of this work. Watch this space for developments.”