The work, by London based artist Amanda Welch, was shown in her solo exhibition Conditions at Bressay Lighthouse in 2018 as part of our off-site programme, Beyond Bonhoga. The detailed work, which represents Shetland made up of its freshwater bodies rather than its seawater edges, is now on loan to Shetland Arts.
Amanda Welch is a London-based artist whose practice has moved from painting through to mixed-media installation and assemblage. She first visited Shetland in 2005.
Describing the landscape that inspired Lochs of Shetland she explains, “Nowhere in Shetland is more than five miles from the sea but the interior can feel a place apart. In many places the land curls up towards precipitous unseen edges, walling in loch-dotted saucers of land and thus increasing the inward-looking feel. But everywhere in Shetland there are lochs staring at their own navels. The burns leaking out of them hardly want to go anywhere, often disappearing into the peat or under the heather.”
