A monument on the Isle of Lewis has been named the only Scottish finalist in a major UK public sculpture prize.
Na Dorsan in South Galson is one of five works shortlisted for a PSSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.
Na Dorsan means the doors in Scottish Gaelic and the title fits the elegiac shape of the work.
The monument was unveiled on 1 November 2024 and marks a century of transformation for a community that refused to accept loss as the last word.
It was commissioned by Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn and created by artists Will Maclean and Marian Leven.
Their design uses the simple threshold of a doorway to speak to return belonging and welcome.
It stands in open moorland light and frames sea and sky like a promise kept.
The story it holds is specific to Galson yet rings across the islands.
Families were cleared from the township in 1863 to make way for a sheep farm.
In 1924 fifty two families returned and new homes rose in Melbost South Galson and North Galson.
The monument gathers that century into one still place and invites a quiet look back and a steady look forward.
“It was wonderful to work on Na Dorsan,” said Will Maclean.
“Our idea was to reflect the re establishment of the village and to use a doorway to represent the homes and the welcome at the heart of this community,” he said.
“We hope it is not only a place of remembrance but a place of reflection for anyone who visits,” he said.
Agnes Rennie chairperson of Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn said the work draws on a deep seam of island memory.
“Na Dorsan stands as a beacon of pride for the people of Galson,” she said.
“It shows the power of community the strength of collective action and the hope that doors once closed can open again,” she said.
The Public Statues and Sculpture Association champions the historical artistic and social role of sculpture in public life.
Its Marsh Award is judged by practitioners academics conservators critics and specialists in public sculpture and fountains.
This year Na Dorsan is shortlisted alongside Looping Boat The Industry by Alex Chinneck at the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal.
It sits with Alluvia by Jason de Caires Taylor in Canterbury Know Not Your Place In The World by Ryan Gander in London and Ribbons by Pippa Hale in Leeds.
The public vote is open now and closes on Sunday 5 October.
For islanders and visitors the shortlist is already a win as it places a Lewis story on a national stage.
It also adds fresh attention to a landscape where remembrance resilience and return continue to shape daily life.
View the shortlisted sculptures and cast your vote HERE
