Salt & Silver

From Friday evening, 20 June, to Sunday morning, 22 June, Salt & Silver brings together artists, historians, and activists to examine the intersections of gender, class, and labour that shaped the lives of the Herring Girls — and to highlight the ongoing relevance of working-class women’s experiences in shaping the world we live in today.

Salt & Silver is part of the public programme for Red Herring by Joanne Coates, building on the themes explored in Coates’ exhibition. Through talks, performances, screenings, events, and a solstice celebration, we reflect on how the Herring Girls’ stories have been excluded from mainstream narratives, and explore how these histories can be reclaimed and reimagined.

The title alludes both to the practice of preserving herrings with salt, and to the symbolic power of the herring itself, known as the “silver darling” for its shimmering appearance and economic role.

Inspired by Highland midsummer traditions of bonfires, sunrise walking, and women’s gatherings at sacred wells, Salt & Silver will also include acts of collective renewal and solidarity. These gestures honour the historic ways in which women nurtured, protected, and renewed their communities at the turning point of the year.

Programme

Fri 20th June

21:30-22:30
Silver Daughters
An evening of moving images and sound art presenting Guttin’ Quines (2025) and Gu’un the Fish n’that (2024) followed by a Q&A with the film director Duncan Forbes and artist Beverley Carruthers. Through contemporary artistic practices, this session explores the history of the Herring Girls, the itinerant all-female workforce whose legacy inspired the exhibition Red Herring by Joanne Coates and the festival of Salt & Silver. 

Sat 21st June

10:00–11:30
A Kind of Freedom: Stories from the Herring Girls
Talk by Dr. Jill de Fresnes
Dr. Jill de Fresnes shares her research on the Scots Herring Girls – the vast migratory workforce of women who travelled with the herring fleets in the 19th and 20th centuries, gutting and packing fish along the coasts of Scotland and down to East Anglia. Drawing on oral histories, photographs, and popular media, Jill explores how these women lived, travelled, worked, and formed their own cultures. A multi-media presentation based on the recollections and representations of the women themselves from around Scotland who worked in the Scots Herring fishery, collected by Jill as the main source for her research on the fishing communities in the early 2000s.

11:45–15:30
Thurso Pride 
Join Timespan at the Thurso Pride on Saturday 21st June. Take part in the furthest Pride celebration in the north of Scotland.

• 11:30 Depart from Timespan by community bus.

• Lunch provided by Timespan. 

• £5 fee includes transport and sandwiches (vegan, vegetarian and gluten free upon request)

• 15:30 pm Return to Timespan.

15:30–16:30
Red Herring Exhibition Tour 
Director and curator Giulia Gregnanin and artist Joanne Coates will lead an exhibition tour of Red Herring. Timespan’s summer show, brings in dialogue, exciting new photographic and performance commissions by Coates and archival materials exploring the legacies of the Herring Girls. Join the presentation to gain insights into the research, working-class histories, and forgotten narratives that shaped the project.

17:00–18:30
A Transversal Reading of Class 
Join Jennifer Jasmine White, Yvette Taylor, Fadzai Mwakutuya, and Hussein Mitha in a panel discussion chaired by Joanne Coates and Giulia Gregnanin. The panel will explore how class is embodied, narrated and resisted across different social terrains, investigating the intersection of class, gender, race, and sexuality in contemporary Britain.

18:30-22:00
Solstice Ceremony
With Mirren Kessling.
A celebration of the longest day of the year, led by artist Mirren Kessling combining traditional solstice rituals with contemporary practices. The Herring Crown, a new commission collaboratively made by Joanne Coates, the Helmsdale Primary School and jewellery maker Patricia Niemann, will also be presented during the ceremony. 

19:30- 21:30
Barbecue and Entertainment
Join the solstice festivities with the Friends of Timespan’s barbecue. Enjoy the delicious food and entertainment, featuring local poets and storytellers, and live music by local artists April Sutherland and Aileen Ogilvie. As part of their set, the artists will teach some of the songs sung by the Herring Girls to keep their stories and memories alive.

Sun 22nd June

10:30–11:30
Words from the Shore
An accessible walk with Timespan curator Jacqueline Aitken exploring the sites where the Herring Girls lived, worked, and created communities in the fishing village of Helmsdale. The walk will be punctuated by spoken word performances by artists JJ Fadaka exploring labour, solidarity and race, through the possibility of abolition and care.

12:00-13:30
Herring Crown Portrait Session with Joanne Coates
Artist Joanne Coates will host a Portrait Session with the Herring Crown, capturing community members wearing the crown made with Helmsdale Primary School, which reimagines the tradition of crowning a Herring Queen to celebrate women’s labour. The portraits will form part of a living archive of Helmsdale’s residents and visitors.

All days
Temporary Tattoo Station
Run by Aileen Gray