MHAIRI KILLIN is a visual artist from the Isle of Iona in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, who explores the fragile relationships between land, sea, humans, and more-than-human beings, challenging perceptions of islands as remote or marginal. Her interdisciplinary, place-based practice considers how belief systems - religious, mythic and socio-political - shape both the physical and metaphysical landscapes she inhabits and journeys through.
Her recent collaborative project, On Sonorous Seas, (2021-2025) brought together voices from art, science and poetry to question the militarisation of Scotland’s seas and its impact on marine ecologies.
Killin has exhibited internationally and undertaken residencies across Scotland, Scandinavia and Canada. She was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 2015 and in 2024, received Creative Scotland funding for a research residency at Artica Svalbard, nominated by OCA Oslo.
This residency fostered research and knowledge exchange between two island contexts, investigating how and why contemporary art practice engages with islands today, particularly in relation to the climate emergency, postcolonial island conditions, and the legacies of cultural and resource extraction.
Image: Shannon Tofts
Image: Ángel Valiente
FLOORTJE ZONNEVELD is a Dutch visual community artist and certified Arctic Nature Guide who leads time-based and participatory projects across remote Nordic regions, including Norway, Svalbard, Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. Working at the intersection of art, ecology, and community, she collaborates closely with local residents to re-explore their landscapes through shared storytelling and creative engagement.
Her practice transforms lived experiences into immersive, collaborative, and multimedia art projects that explore time, movement, walking, sculptural space, and human interaction with nature. By working site-responsively, often in remote islands and northern communities, she seeks out shared narratives that strengthen cultural identity and deepen connections between people, place, and ecological change.
As an expedition leader and Arctic Nature Guide, Floortje brings years of field experience into her artistic process, using creative methods to foster reflection on sustainability and environmental transformation. She is deeply committed to working with local materials, revealing community storytelling, and offering inclusive workshops for all ages.
A longtime collaborator with Artica Svalbard, Floortje has led several community-driven projects, including Shadowing Without a Sunset, Future Community Garden, and The Slow Adventure: A Year Without Trees.
Across disciplines, she bridges art and science, inviting artists, researchers, and communities into shared processes of exploration and co-creation.