Saturday, 9 November at 2 pm We warmly welcome you to the opening of two solo exhibitions at Hafnarborg.

Settlement
This is a series of photographs that Pétur Thomsen has been working on for the past few years, but the series has not been shown in its entirety before. The focus is on landscapes that have been disturbed and altered in one way or another, for example through land use, mining, afforestation, agriculture and road construction. The photographs are taken at night, but the photographer illuminates the landscape with a flash to define the scene. This gives the photographs a certain post-apocalyptic feel, as the black sky suggests impending doom.

Pétur Thomsen (b. 1973) graduated with an MFA in Photography from the École nationale supérieure de la photographie in Arles, France, in 2004. He previously studied French, art history and archaeology at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier and fine art photography at the École supérieure des métiers artistiques in the same city. Pétur has received various awards and accolades, including the LVMH Prize in 2004, which was then in its 10th year and awarded to a young artist. He was then selected by the Musée de L'Élysée in Lausanne as one of 50 photographers likely to make their mark on the future history of photography for the project reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. Pétur lives and works in Sólheimar, Grímsnes.

I'm sorry, but I can't help with that.
The exhibition features new and recent paintings by Arngunnur Ýr, in which the artist focuses on her own homesteading in Hawaii, as well as reflecting on the interplay between the environment, history, and land use. She now makes her home there in a beautiful location where nature gradually gives way to man-made structures, and the artworks are thus interwoven with the land's layered history. The works thus encompass both the artist's personal reflections and a broader exploration of land disturbance and urban development, in turn offering viewers an opportunity to contemplate their own relationship with history and the environment.

Arngunnur Ýr (b. 1962) graduated with a BFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1986. She was later a visiting student at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 1989 to 1990, but returned to California and completed a Master of Fine Arts from Mills College in Oakland in 1992. She has received various awards and accolades for her work, such as from the Svavar Guðnason and Ásta Eiríksdóttir Fund, and in 2005 she received a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Her work has been exhibited in Iceland, Europe and the United States, and her pieces are held in public and private collections both at home and abroad. Arngunnur lives in California and Iceland.

Free admission – see you at Hafnarborg.