The Shape of Farming

This exhibition was created by Rebecca Marr & Mark Jenkins (Kolekto) for The Kelp Store, Papay.

The exhibition uses archive material from Papay Archive and Orkney Library & Archive as a starting point. We were drawn to the strong shapes in the archive photographs, the repetition of the circle in the cartwheel and later the tractor wheel. With the question in our minds ‘What does farming in Papay look like?’, we took shapes as a vehicle to cross time.

It is important to note the timing of the exhibition. The original idea was for several trips to Papay to make work (we are based in Stromness). 2020 happened and like everyone else in the UK our world shrunk and we were unable to return to the island. Instead we travelled back through archive photographs and returned to the initial photographs made before lockdown. The ‘Holland Geometrics’ series is perhaps a lockdown response, with shapes from the images isolated and looping in a repeating pattern.

Some visitors will not be able to travel to see the exhibition in person, so it is presented here to allow as wide an audience as possible.

Please visit the acknowledgements page for bibliography, credits and thank you’s.

Rebecca & Mark
Kolekto