Uig Open Award

William Dick

£500

Notnave I

Rèasort Estates Award (Western Isles Artist)

Alice Macmillan

£500

Boreray

Alice Macmillan's 'Boreray' is a work I kept returning to. While images of the St Kilda archipelago are well known, this arresting linocut of the towering island offers a perspective that places the emphasis on its importance as a natural habitat. 'Boreray' is a work which is beautifully executed and reveals an artist of exceptional skill. Not since Agnes Miller Parker has a Scottish printmaker depicted our environment in such a stunning, highly evocative way. I cannot wait to see what work she will create in the future. 

Alex Boyd (selector)

Rèasort Estates Award

Fraser Macbeath

£500 

Tiugainn Dachaidh

This is a very promising young talent using a rich complex of original imagery and archival sources to illuminate the passage of time on our islands. I liked the way this work was simultaneously historical and contemporary and how the artist has used the past and the present to create a work that is original, poetic and visually powerful.

Beo ann an dochas.

Malcolm Maclean (Selector)

Curator Purchase Award

Sarah Bold

A Road Less Travelled

This work attracted me as I've clearly experienced a similar concern to the artist over the influx on visitors to the islands since the relaxing of the first lockdown. Sarah refers to the 'double edged sword' which I completely understand. For me, 'A Road Less Travelled' embodies the difficult conflict between the natural environment and unwanted human interaction.

Andy Laffan (Curator)