This voyage was part of the collaborative project (W)ord started in 2017 by David Faithful and Imi Maufe which would involve a collaboration between a group of Scottish and Norwegian artists to create a touring artwork that explored historical, geographical, linguistic and cultural ties between our countries. The artwork ended up as a box or kist which contained the works of the artists involved and was designed to be toured, containing everything needed to install an exhibition with parts of the box transforming into a shelves, vitrine and sandwich board on unpacking.
After touring many locations throughout the UK, our travelling kist was to return to Norway to be exhibited at Skjerjehamn as part of the celebrations marking the anniversary of Norway’s national constitution. So as not to waste a valuable opportunity for adventure, we chartered a 120-year old herring boat, The Swan, to carry our kist and several artists from Shetland to Norway in time to install the exhibition.
The crossing from Shetland to Bergen was a shock to the system – seasickness came for all of us frail Scottish artists, and the apparently moderate sea seemed like a raving maelstrom to my unlearned eyes. The Swan was a dream to sail nonetheless, and it’s crew the most kindhearted and caring bunch I could possibly imagine. Under their guidance we warmed up into the voyage and after borrowing some premium Norwegian seasickness pills found joy on the high sea.
A particularly hallucinatory chapter in the voyage was our passing of the oil rigs in the dead of night. Dotting the horizon like the silhouettes of great mosquitoes, these monstrosities made our wooden boat feel very small and very primitive.
Arriving in Norway was nonetheless a welcome change of pace, as our watch rotation system was kindly put to bed once we could sleep at anchor. We then had a dreamy few days on calm fjords sailing from Bergen to Gulating. These were about the joyfullest days I could imagine as we made drawings, swam off the boat, caught mackerel, drank whisky and played cards around the huge table below deck. On finally reaching the location for the exhibition we carried our kist and it’s contents piece by piece onto dry land at Skjerjehamn, where we met more of our collaborators – some for the first time in 5 years.
Over the following days we attended events and celebrations at Gulating before setting off for Shetland. The journey home was a race against approaching bad weather. Mercifully, at least in my case, seasickness was banished by fine Norwegian medication on this leg of the adventure, and the sailing felt much better in this direction.
