An Insight to Local Exhibitions
Here in Uist, we have a strong arts community; Uist Arts Association hold summer and winter exhibitions, we have our local art school at Taigh Chearsabhagh as well as local craft producers. Check out the current exhibitions across the islands.
Following the Fish
- Museum nan Eilean, Lionacleit, Benbecula
5th Jun – 2nd Sep 2026
Following the Fish explores the unsung stories of the herring girls who between 1850 and 1950 travelled hundreds of miles across the UK following the herring fishing fleets. The herring girls established a strong community of women undertaking back breaking work gutting and barrelling millions of fish every week. Following the Fish seeks to reveal and celebrate the herring girls’ stories, work, and their lasting contribution to the economy and community of fishing towns throughout the UK.
Dùthchas | Home: Fiona Pearson
- Gallery 1, Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy
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Dùthchas | Home is an exhibition of work exploring the concept of home by the artist Fiona Pearson. Fiona has lived, worked and made her own home in Uist for over 50 years.
FAODAIL | FOUND Film Archive website demo
- Gallery 2, Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy
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Visit Gallery 2 for a demonstration of the new Faodail | Found Outer Hebrides Film Archive website. The website is projected onto a large screen for ease of viewing and you can navigate the website in the Gallery, viewing clips across the 20 collections – 24 hours of footage, 500 clips – searching by collection, theme, date or decade, location (including by map) or by keyword.
The Sound of the Sea
- Café, Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy, North Uist
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The Sound of the Sea is a research project aiming to highlight how the sea can be understood through fluid mechanics. In collaboration with Jack King at the University of Manchester, Taigh Chearsabhagh have commissioned visual artist Bronwyn MacKenzie to produce new artwork. The practice explores the intersection of art, science, and natural systems through drawing, sound, and technology. Created for Sound of the Sea, the drawings translate wave and environmental data from the Outer Hebrides into physical marks, revealing patterns of movement, energy, and change within the surrounding waters.
‘Island Vibes’
- Ceann na h-Àirigh
Monday 3rd – Friday 28th August 2026
A preview of ‘Island Vibes’, Mairi Stewart Kallin Art, in
Ceann na h-Àirigh.
The Owl and the Moon
- Tagsa’s Community Hub
Wednesday 22nd July – 12th August 2026
Come and visit Tagsa’s Community Hub to see a site-specific mixed media exhibition by Lewis Macdonald. The Owl and the Moon was created under the umbrella of Tagsa’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Service and represents Tagsa’s ethos of maximising the interconnecting of therapeutic elements inherent in the arts, natural environment and our Indigenous Gaidhlig culture which we continue to (re)validate as ways our service users can creatively find their own path to more meaningful existence.
Kildonan Museum
- Kildonan Museum, South Uist
April – October, 10am – 5pm
7 days a week
(last admission 4.15pm)
The Kildonan Museum and Cultural Centre in South Uist is a heritage and cultural amenity which includes a museum, a craft shop, a Fèis room for ceilidhs, music and dance, a café and an archaeology room. Admission: £5. Children: free. Concessions: (over 60s and students) £3
Where the Sea meets the Road: The John Macdonald Calmac Collection
- Museum, Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy
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Where the Sea meets the Road presents islanders’ stories, often emotional narratives of homecomings and departures, the fun and excitement of playing at Lochmaddy pier as children, visitors’ memories of sailing to the islands, and the thoughts of business people and passengers for whom the ferries remain central to everyday life today. You can read fascinating accounts from former skippers and crew, with tales of rough seas and challenging journeys, as well as opinions of critics commenting on the age and reliability of the current fleet.
The exhibition is open to visit in the Museum, 10am-4pm, Monday to Saturday and suitable for all ages and interests. Entrance tickets are available from the reception desk in the shop, £3 for adults, £1.50 concession, and free for children under age 10. Booking ahead is not required.
Àrainneachd Alainn
- Old Lochmaddy School
Wednesday – Friday, 1 – 5 pm
The Àrainneachd Alainn environment exhibition at Old Lochmaddy School offers a free tour through the geology, flora, and fauna that make up these environmentally dynamic islands. Learn more about how the Uists were formed across millions of years and the way people have subsequently worked and shaped the landscape, as well as some of the special species that make the islands their home and the conservation efforts looking to keep the islands fit for future generations.
