Display By Esther McManus

The next exhibition on Display is We Axe For What We Want by Esther McManus. Opening on 18th June and running until the 25th July

This exhibition presents an extract from Time in the Archive, Esther’s contribution to We Axe For What We Want, a publication which foregrounds the multiple voices and collaborations of Gaada’s 2020/21 programme Weemin’s Wark.

Through this exhibition and the upcoming publication, Esther presents a personal reading of the Up Helly Aa For Aa archive, informed by contributions including Lynn Abrams’ Myth and Materiality in a Women’s World, as well as many articles and artworks by local people. 

The work experiments with the medium of comics’ ability to represent time, enabling different temporal moments to interact in conversation. Here, as in the archive, time is not linear and the past is not 'over'. 

Esther McManus is a comics artist and educator whose work examines print's historical role in the production and distribution of knowledge. Her comics explore personal & collective relationships to history and are often informed by archival research.

Weemin's Wark is a dynamic programme of community workshops, cultural research, artist exhibitions, and publishing activities. The project aims to increase the visibility of women’s contribution to contemporary island culture. Weemin’s Wark provides safe spaces in which to examine notions of labour for Women and allies who challenge structures of social and institutional inequality.

The project publication will be published by Gaada in July 2021 and features a range of exciting contributions.

This project has taken place in partnership with local equalities group Up Helly Aa For Aa, and Glasgow Women’s Library. Weemin’s Wark is funded by Creative Scotland. 

Display is a new distanced outdoor gallery space located outside the Gaada visual art workshop in Burra, Shetland.

Gaada welcomes visitors to view the current Display within the gravelled area outside the building, however we politely request that at this time, visitors do not enter the building without prior appointment. This ensures Gaada is able to continue maintaining a safe working environment within the workshop.