This exhibition marks the recent acquisition by the Pier Arts Centre of Luke Fowler’s film, Being in a Place: A Portrait of Margaret Tait 2022, with support from Art Fund.

The film explores Orcadian filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait (1918-99) and her relationship with Orkney through her extensive archive which is held at the Orkney Library and Archive in Kirkwall.

The film features newly recovered and restored film material including offcuts and alternative versions of her films that were discovered in a garden shed at Cruan, the house Tait shared with her husband Alex Pirie.

Through letters, diaries, production notes and sound recordings the film retraces Tait’s journey, bringing the past and present together to consider the filmmaker and writer within the landscape of Orkney.

The exhibition also features books, archive material and paintings relating to the work of Margaret Tait.

Showing alongside, a rolling programme of other artist films from the Pier Arts Centre Collection including work by Margaret Tait, Katy Dove and Rosalind Nashashibi.

Supported by the Scottish tour for Luke Fowler’s, Being in a Place: A Portrait of Margaret Tait (2022), funded by Screen Scotland and led by Urth Productions.