Above: Sheep Fort, Skerry, south of Ruskholm
I also saw the Gunnie Moberg exhibition at Stills Gallery last week. Gunnie Moberg (1941-2007) had a strong connection to Orkney: the place, its people and its landscape, this was a timely exhibition as some friends of mine from Australia had just made a spirited visit to the islands in a van with only four days to spend on the trip.
Gunnie Moberg shared this spirit and determination after visiting Orkney in 1975, to see her friend George Mackay Brown, returned home and announced to her husband, sculptor Tam MacPhail, and four sons they would be relocating, she had fallen in love with the islands.
"Moved up with my family the following year, 1st of March 1976. At Scrabster the weather was so bad the St Ola couldn’t get in and it wasn’t much better the next day, when we sailed. Everything looked grey, where did my family think I was taking them? However, as we sailed in to Stromness, the sky opened up and the sun shone on all the little stone cottages and piers, thank Gud. That was the last time we were going to see the sun for a month! The wind raged, sea spray was coming over Marwick Head but we were cosy in our rented cottage in Birsay." Gunnie Moberg
Gunnies photographs of the islands seem like studies in flesh, they show the age of the land and the scars of man, they are potently bleak and abstractly beautiful.
Her portraits are full of fun, love and warmth for her subjects. The exhibition runs at Stills until the 28th October. and there is a partner exhibition of the lovely films of Margaret Tait (1918-99).
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