Ljuset—Mörkret

This collaboration was initiated by Anna, who wrote to Frances on the winter solstice in 2022. Since our initial email introduction, this idea for a dialogue around the light and darkness has grown into this blog, which will document our conversation over the course of the year. You are invited to join us on our journey from summer solstice to summer solstice.

Anna: I am an artist living/working in Stockholm, Sweden, who sends this mail to you in the shortest day of the year. I found your work a couple of years ago when I was in Orkney to visit the neolithic sites, and checked out Orkney-based artists. Your wonderful map drawings have been in my mind since then.

Stockholm and Stromness are placed at the exact same latitude, so I guess that we have the same conditions. The light and the darkness are something that connect us deeply to the circle of the passing year. Would you be interested in a small collaboration with me? Maybe a kind of dialogue in text around light and darkness over the year or something? I am aware that this is kind of abstract, I just want to invite to something…

Frances: Thanks so much for your email – I read it minutes after you sent it, while walking a section of the St Magnus Way in Orkney as a way to celebrate the winter solstice. I grew up in Orkney and lived there until the age of 18, then moved home again for a few years after I graduated. I now live south in the city, working at Glasgow School of Art. I return home to the islands as much as I can, walk and make work about the coastlines. I was delighted to hear from you and read your proposal for collaboration.

[Image: Driftwood, Burray, 2021 by Frances Scott]