The Puffins Wear My Words | Tha Na Buthaidean a’ Cur M’ Fhaclan Orra
English and Gaelic, 2025
A story of a young mink who, observing the rituals of a human community, attempts to signal its inclusion through symbolic acts. Yet, these gestures are misread. They are met not with understanding but with distance and mistrust, leading to fear, misinterpretation, and violence. As the mink’s efforts to be seen and understood grow more desperate, the community’s response becomes more defensive. A cycle of escalating action ensues, becoming a story at once intimate, mythical, and all too familiar.
– Lynton Talbot
dòbhran publishes and translates place stories and texts. Beginning with integrating monetary worth of artworks with dimensions of shared stories, it initiates a modest yet dynamic journey in reimagining values generated through art economy.
Recalling the lores and ecosystem of a keystone species – Eurasian Otter (lutra lutra), Dòbhran (from dobur, “water”) is founded by Shen Xin on the Isle of Skye. It honours their life partner Ali Van who shares a loving connection with the otters, and with whom the life knowing value in place is led.
gratitude
This story is made possible by the contribution of MadeIn Gallery Shanghai and Shen Xin, through the collection of Solar Wheels by Centre Pompidou, Paris in 2025. It also received generous support from the exhibition Mink and Berry at TINA Gallery, London.