Special Exhibitions

This is an exhibition in King's Museum of recent archaeological discoveries from western Alaska, excavated by a team from the University of Aberdeen in partnership with the Yup’ik Eskimo village of Quinhagak.

‘Nunalleq’, meaning ‘the old village’ in Yup’ik, is a winter village site dating from 1350-1650AD. The permafrost has preserved tens of thousands of rarely seen artefacts from wood and other organic materials, and the collections ranks as one the largest and best-preserved ever recovered from the north. The research is a race against time as rising sea levels and melting permafrost are eroding the site at a catastrophic rate.

The exhibition explores the relationship between Eskimo/Inuit peoples and the Arctic environment through the lens of material culture, with finds from the recent archaeological excavation displayed alongside objects from the University of Aberdeen Museums’ Arctic collections. The finds from Alaska appear with the permission of the owners, Qanirtuuq, Inc., of Quinhagak, Alaska.

Following their study of Russian avant-garde poster advertisements, a thrid year History of Art class created their own posters which they then displayed in an exhibition entitled 'Student Realism' to show the student perspective on university life.

The exhibition is on display in the upper floor gallery of the James Mackay Hall in King's College.

The exhibition in the MacRobert Building depicts traditional life of indigenous peoples across the Russian Arctic. The photographs provide glimpses into Northern Siberian cultures like the Chukchi, Dolgan, Even, Khanty, Komi, Nenets, Nganasan, and Yakut.

41 years ago, Bryan Alexander used a Royal Society of Arts travel bursary to visit North West Greenland where he lived in an Inuit community for four months. This was the beginning of a lifetime documenting the Arctic and its people. Bryan has spent a total of ten of the past 40 years living in isolated native camps and villages around the Arctic.

Over the years Bryan and his wife Cherry have carried out assignments for many of the World's leading magazines including, Time, GEO, Le Figaro, Smithsonian, Vogue, People, International Wildlife, and the Sunday Times. Today, they run Arcticphoto, a specialist photo archive on Polar regions. Their work is an expanding record of these vast areas and the changes that have happened over more than four decades.

A new exhibition of work by Aberdonian artist Eric Auld, which includes work spanning more than 60 years, is now on display at the University of Aberdeen.

The city, shire and surrounding area have provided the inspiration for Auld’s paintings and drawings over the decades and the exhibition features many local landmarks and atmospheric representations of north-east landscapes.

The exhibition in the Old Town House, High Street, will run until April 30.