Gaada set to be represented in major exhibition at V&A in Dundee
SHETLAND-based artist organisation Gaada is set to be represented in a major new exhibition opening at the V&A Museum in Dundee.
Gaada, which is based in Burra, will have works by Shetland artists presented in the Design and Disability exhibition, which opens tomorrow (Friday).
The exhibition explores the radical contributions of disabled, deaf and neurodivergent people to contemporary design and culture.
V&A Dundee describes the exhibition as both a celebration of disabled-led design and a call for action.
Gaada’s inclusion marks a significant moment for the organisation and for the artists developing work through Toogs artist workshop in Burra.
Works by Helen Tulloch (25), Struan Haswell (28) and Robbie Burns (79) will be included in the exhibition, placing artistic practices developed through Gaada’s long-term, artist-led workshop support within a major national museum context.
A risograph print featuring a bursting bouquet of hand-cut collage shapes from Tulloch, and a mammoth through screen printing on cotton from Haswell are among the contributions.
Robbie Burns’ Weatherman meanwhile is a visually bright and tonally optimistic screen print on paper, made in Burns’ characteristically precise, exaggerated and energetic hand-drawn style.
A selection of Gaada publications will also be included in the exhibition’s reading section, including Ethan Strachan’s The World of the Furry Fandom, Sally Huband’s Salt-Water Island, and Mari Johnson’s The Lady Artist’s Shetland Bird Book.
Alongside the exhibition, V&A Dundee Shop will stock a wide range of new Gaada collaborative editions, featuring work by Haswell, Johnson, Michael Wiseman and Burns.
Gaada co-founder and co-director Daniel Clark said they were thrilled for the artists included in this “landmark exhibition”.
He said Design and Disability recognises disabled, deaf and neurodivergent people “not as passive recipients of care or design, but as cultural producers, designers and experts in everyday life.”
“This is a significant moment for the artists, and for the rich creative practices growing through Gaada and Toogs Artist Workshop in Shetland,” Clark said.
“From the start, Gaada has grown as an inclusive artist-led space. Our doors are open to anyone with creative interest, and some of the folk coming through those doors identify as disabled and/or neurodivergent, and some do not.
“As an organisation whose team also includes neurodivergent and disabled people, our approach to inclusion has always been shaped from the inside out.
“What matters to all of us here at Gaada is that artists are able to define themselves, and that the conditions around them are shaped to support ambitious, joyful and serious creative practice.”
He added that it was “incredibly meaningful” that these artists had been selected for the V&A despite developing their art “outside conventional art-school pathways”.
Gaada’s involvement in Design and Disability builds on its previous collaboration with V&A Dundee in 2024, when the museum commissioned three exclusive collaborative editions by artist Haswell and Gaada.
Those works developed from Struan’s text-based “Struan Sayings” and his long-running weekly studio practice at Toogs Artist Workshop.
Based in a former Methodist chapel in Burra, Gaada is on a 10-year mission to establish Toogs as an accessible, world-class creative workshop and project space, brought to life through workshops, events, exhibitions and publishing.
Design and Disability opens at V&A Dundee on Friday 5 June. The exhibition is presented in gallery two and is free to visit.
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