Consequences of Highland whispers lead to quirky Ullapool exhibition at An Talla Solais

A WESTER Ross art gallery is brightening the days of locals and visitors alike with its ‘inside-out’ exhibition using a window to showcase some of its delights before it reopens.

While many have missed galleries, music venues and community spaces over the last year, An Talla Solais in Ullapool has come up with an exhibition featuring five windows, five senses and five artists, Alex Boyd, Victoria Caine, Pádraig Ó’ Tuama, Anna Raven and Nick Turner.

The collective formed in lockdown and created a game of consequences, Highland Whispers, in which each initially responded to one of the five senses.

The artists passed on their creations to the next, who would respond in their own, often very different, medium.

Despite taking inspiration from the same sense, each piece of work differs hugely to the next, echoing how we all experience the world in our own unique way.

Victoria Caine’s ethereal relief work particularly stands out. Locals and visitors alike walking down Argyle Street in Ullapool will have seen the incredible plume of feathers emerging from the first window. Titled ‘The birds are quieter today’, Victoria’s work responds directly to a line from Pádraig Ó’ Tuama poem ‘Rising Cases’.

Pádraig’s poetry is perhaps the most emotive of all the work. By scanning a QR code in the window viewers will find themselves listening to a softly spoken Irish voice, contemplative and lilting with the rhythm of the poetry being read.

Highland Whispers is on until May 20.

For those not passing by the Gallery window, the works are all available as a virtual exhibition online at www.highlandwhispers.co.uk

The gallery is due to reopen on May 22.

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