THERE have always been myths about the land “beyond the North Wind”. Hyperborea, the Ancient Greeks called it, alleged to be blessed with fertile land and 24-hour sun. The place itself has been equated to many locations, from the regions just north of the Alps to the far north east of Asia, but in 1726 in his History of the Celtic Religion and Account of the Druids, philosopher John Toland, whose philosophical net was cast very wide in the service of his beliefs, directly posited that Hyperborea was Lewis.
Photographer Alex Boyd, also one of the curators at An Lanntair, creates stunning landscapes using early photographic processes. Using Toland's assertion as catalyst, he curates this exhibition in Hyperborean vein, showing a trio of three very different photographers inspired by things north – Ragnar Axelsson, Chris Friel and Boyd himself.
Ragnar Axelsson, the celebrated Icelandic photographer, known for his staggering surveys of northern landscapes, peoples, and ways of life, is represented by his superb series of portraits of Faeroese and Icelandic folk. Axelsson, who prefers to be known simply as RAX, also, incidentally, appears at FACLAN, the Hebridean Book Festival, on 26 October, to discuss his work, an opportunity that should not be missed if you are in the area.
Innovative and experimental British photographer Chris Friel is represented with “After”, the extremely moving, beautiful series of landscapes taken over the course of one day, shortly after Friel experienced the unthinkable in losing his son Joe, aged just 16.
Boyd’s dark, elemental landscape portraits of St Kilda and the Cuillin of Skye complete the trio of photographers, including his own Faeroese venture, “The Land of Maybe”, portraits of life in the North Atlantic archipelago, which will be published in a book this Autumn.
Hyperborea: Lands of the North, An Lanntair, Kenneth Street
Stornoway, Lewis, 01851 708 480, lanntair.com. Until 4 Nov, Mon–Sat, 10am –late
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