The remarkable Arctic life of Orkney born explorer John Rae is being brought home through a new exhibition at the Orkney Museum exploring the Indigenous knowledge and cultures that helped shape his journeys.
AGLOOKA: John Rae, Indigenous Knowledge and the Arctic has been developed with the John Rae Society and brings together Inuit, First Nations, Métis and Orcadian art and artefacts alongside the story of one of Orkney’s most internationally significant figures.
Aglooka was the name given to Rae by the Inuit people he met and travelled with and is usually translated as “he who takes long strides”, reflecting both his extraordinary endurance and the respect he earned among those who shared their knowledge of the Arctic landscape with him.
Born at The Hall of Clestrain in Orphir in 1813, Rae became one of the most successful Arctic explorers of the nineteenth century, but his approach differed significantly from many of his contemporaries.
Rather than attempting to overcome the Arctic environment using European methods alone, Rae worked closely with Indigenous peoples and learned from Inuit knowledge and experience, developing skills that became critical to his ability to travel and survive across enormous distances.
That relationship sits at the heart of the new exhibition, which looks beyond the traditional story of exploration to the people, cultures and knowledge that made those journeys possible.
Objects loaned by members of the John Rae Society sit alongside pieces from the Orkney Museum collection and works created by Indigenous and Orcadian artists.
Many of the objects were not owned or used by Rae himself, but have instead been chosen to illuminate the cultures, craftsmanship and traditions connected with the world in which he travelled.
Among them are Inuit carvings and artefacts loaned by members of the John Rae Society, including pieces collected directly from Inuit communities by Society member David Sharp.
Examples of Cree First Nations and Métis craftsmanship from the Orkney Museum collections further broaden the story beyond Rae himself and towards the communities and traditions of northern North America.
The exhibition also includes work by Indigenous artists Professor Willie Ermine and Connie Dickens, alongside contemporary Orcadian artists whose work reflects Rae’s continuing legacy and the connections between Orkney, northern Canada and the wider Arctic.
Through those objects, artworks and personal stories, AGLOOKA presents exploration not simply as the achievement of one remarkable Orcadian, but as a story shaped by cultural exchange and knowledge shared across communities thousands of miles apart.
More than two centuries after Rae was born in Orphir, those connections between Orkney and the Arctic are being brought together again in the islands where his story began.
