JJ Jamieson: Progress of Hairst Rig

24 July 2026

JJ Jamieson gives us an update on the progress of his project Hairst Rig.

In this blog, JJ Jamieson gives us an update on the progress of his project Hairst Rig, which received funding from the Shetland Arts Commissioning Fund 25/26.

Part cultural document, part video art, part musical exploration – Hairst Rig will follow a 20-minute visual and musical journey through the harvest season, showing traditional processes on some of the oldest working machinery still in use, along with newer equipment. Visually stunning, this work will capture those practices and elevates the filmic record of work and landscape to a beautiful meditation on what is both familiar and unnoticed.

The piece will be backed by its own soundtrack, composed and played by a unique collection of Shetland musicians of all ages, experience and genres.

“The ‘Hairst Rig’ project is progressing very nicely.

Quite a few musicians have been in to record for their particular scenes, and add to each others compositions. Most of the music is recorded at my studio in Sandwick, though some of the pieces are recorded remotely, for example the various contributions from Dr Ian Leask who now lives in southern Ireland.

Crop growth has been a bit slow in the field due to this years’ lack of sun and warmth, so that has delayed the filming of some segments, but fingers crossed we’re catching up now.

I am thoroughly appreciating the luxury of time to spend on this project. It allows both the music and filmic elements to evolve in all sorts of directions which wouldn’t have been possible had there been greater time constraints, so I’m very excited to see and hear the end result!”