Tain artist Katie Forbes celebrates Gaelic culture with murals in Scotland
A Tain artist is using her murals to breathe new life into Gaelic, inspired by her late grandmother’s native tongue.
Katie Forbes’ colourful public works - already turning heads in Glasgow - are now set to make their mark in the Highlands, with her first Gaelic mural planned for her hometown.
Katie’s connection to Gaelic started at home, with her step-granny Annie, who grew up in Stornoway.
“My actual grandparents died when I was really young, so when I was still a child, so when my granny Annie came in the scene, I was delighted to have another chance of having a grandmother.”
Gaelic was Annie’s first language, but like many of her generation she switched to English when she moved to the mainland to raise a family.
“Her son's never really learned much Gaelic, so it wasn't really kind of passed down through the family”, Katie explained.
As a teenager, Katie secretly began learning Gaelic, hoping to surprise her granny on her birthday. But Annie passed away suddenly before Katie had the chance.
“I was just so devastated that I didn't even get to show her that I'd been trying”, Katie said. “Even if it was broken Gaelic, or it wasn't very fluidly, at least it was an effort.”
That loss inspired one of Katie’s most meaningful commissions - a mural in Glasgow titled Mo Chridhe - Gaelic for ‘my heart’. She included phonetic spelling so that anyone, even those who had never spoken Gaelic, could learn the phrase.
“I wished I could have said that to her, or even just use broken bits of Gaelic,” she said.
The artwork struck a chord.
“It made me realise a lot of people were kind of lacking that Gaelic in the scene”, she said. “They'd unintentionally become these beacons for Gaelic speakers.
“I suddenly became so aware of the Gaelic communities in Glasgow, which I hadn't been before - that was really exciting to see!”
While Glasgow revealed new Gaelic networks, Katie says her upbringing in the Highlands gave her a different perspective.
“Growing up in the Highlands, I'd always seen Gaelic everywhere. But what really stumped me was being able to verbalise it - that was the frustrating thing.”
She believes phonetic spelling can help bridge that gap and encourage people to actually use the language.
Now Katie is preparing to bring her vision north, with her first Gaelic mural planned for Tain. She has also approached councils across Scotland, with twelve communities already backing the idea.
“I think there's a need for them up here.”, she said. “After painting the Glasgow Gaelic mural with the phonetic spelling, the response has been massive and it's been so positive.
“I can't believe how many people have reached out since that mural just to talk about it, and I think that just shows that people are ready for it.
Katie’s mission is simple: make Gaelic approachable, beautiful, and part of everyday life.
“There's a saying in Scottish Gaelic that says it's better broken Gaelic than Gaelic in the coffin”, she said. “I think that's the whole basis of me wanting to include Gaelic in the murals.
“My mission is to just include it as much as possible because I think it's a beautiful language.”
Katie has once again taken up the challenge of learning Gaelic, this time with a clear goal in mind.
“I'm very much at the beginner stage, but my aim is to be fluent within the year”, she said. “So I'm really ramping up with the tutors and the online courses - and my terrible duolingo!”
For Katie, murals are just one part of a bigger picture.
“This is our language, and this is our country's language”, she said. “I think people get tricked into thinking it's not worth the time, but I don't want to see a world where all the Gaelic is lost because we just kept being told that nobody spoke it because people do.”