Rebel Orkney Fair Saturday exhibition

Rebel Orkney, St. Andrews Fair Saturday exhibition at Northlight Gallery, Stromness.

For the past few years Fiona Grahame (editor of The Orkney News), Cary Welling (curator of Northlight Gallery) and I have held events in association with St. Andrews Fair Saturday, which exists as an antidote to the rampant consumerism of Black Friday. For 2021 we will be showing work from the illustrated history book Rebel Orkney – many of the stories Fiona tells in the book concern injustice and those fighting against it.

All the events held for Fair Saturday raise money for charity. As in previous years we will be taking donations for Orkney Rape and Sexual Assault Service. Domestic violence and sexual assault happens in Orkney just as it does elsewhere, but in relatively close-knit island communities such as Orkney many would like to believe it doesn’t. ORSAS does valuable work in a difficult climate.

The Fair Saturday exhibition will be showing original artwork and photographs featured in the book. Rebel Orkney can be ordered from all good booksellers and is stocked by the J Gow Rum and Orkney Winery shop on Lamb Holm (the pirate Gow being a protagonist in the book). Fiona and I will also have copies of Rebel Orkney available for sale at Northlight Gallery (while stocks last!)

The exhibition runs from the 27th of November (Fair Saturday) to the 9th of December 2021, and the gallery is open daily from 10am to 4pm, except Sundays. Fiona Grahame and I will be ‘aboot hands’ at various times throughout the run if you wish to speak to us about the book.