Exhibitions

There are a number of exhibition spaces and feature display areas throughout the Museum and Archives building. The artefacts and works on display change regularly and details of our current shows are listed here.

The Museum and Archives is managed by the Shetland Amenity Trust, a small charity caring for Shetland's natural and cultural heritage. It is free to visit the Museum and Archives and to view our ever changing and exciting exhibitions. Donations are welcomed to help the Trust care for the collections and our heritage both now and in the future.

The main exhibition space is Da Gadderie. Shows on display here can be by individual artists, or curated by the Museum's own Exhibitions Officer based on Museum and Archive artefacts, or including touring exhibitions from other musuems, galleries or institutions. Details of some of the previous high profile shows are included on the Our Own Shows Archive page.

Any artist who would like to display work in the building should contact the Exhibitions Officer to discuss.

Current Exhibitions

Polar North by Lesley Burr

10/03/2024 - 26/05/2024
Da Gadderie, Shetland Museum and Archives

An exhibition by Scottish contemporary artist Lesley Burr inspired during her Canadian Arctic artist in residence in 2019. The show includes paintings, prints and ceramics and explores the importance of arctic themes, sharing her responses to the trip and her wider preoccupation with the natural world.

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Looking in from the Edge

07/03/2024 - 12/05/2024
Upper Gallery, Shetland Museum and Archives

An exhibition highlighting the part Shetland played in the trade of Northern Europe from 1500-1720.

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Harriet's Portrait

23/09/2023 - 19/11/2024
Upper Gallery, Shetland Museum

As part of the BBC's 'Extraordinary Portraits', UK artist Stuart Pearson Wright was commissioned to paint a portrait of Harriet Middleton in recognition of her incredible fundraising efforts for the Shetland MRI Scanner appeal.

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On Top of the World

02/06/2023 - 28/07/2024
Upper Gallery, Shetland Museum

In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tanzing Norgay became the first humans to summit Mount Everest. Their climbing equipment included knitted jumpers made in Shetland.

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Forthcoming Exhibitions

Ebbe and Flow

31/05/2024 - 31/08/2024
Da Gadderie, Shetland Museum and Archives

A celebration of our cultural and maritime connections with Scandinavia through the work of Scottish and Norwegian artists with 'Ebbe and Flow', a travelling exhibition that reinforces the importance of sea and travel, language, and culture. The exhibition will culminate with the consignment of artwork setting sail from Shetland Museum to Gulating in Bergen to its destination, the site of a Viking ting/parliament in Norway.

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