Þórdís Erla Ágústsdóttir is holding an exhibition at the Little Gallery, Strandgata 19, from 8th to 11th December. The title of the exhibition is 'Comfort Against Grief – A Personal Narrative about Nature'.
„I have often wondered whether I can convey the sense of well-being and freedom I feel in the vastness of Iceland. Can I convey the love for the vastness and the open horizon, or how the interplay of light and land stirs the emotions, moves you and fills you with energy.
When I take landscape photographs, I have mostly dealt with the variability of light, the sky, the sea, the horizon and traces in nature. The horizon, the sky and the sea open a path to freedom and eternity. Often, it is a single moment in a peculiar interplay of light and surroundings, resulting in an aesthetic experience that has a profound emotional impact on me. I want to capture this powerful experience of nature and convey it to the viewer. Perhaps the images evoke a longing for nature in the viewer, a desire to get out into the wilderness. The viewer even gets a feeling of freedom.
In recent years, I have also reflected on the transience of nature. The transformations have become rapid and the decay is noticeable. The marks in nature are indicators of mortality, whether they are man-made or natural. When the marks are made by nature, they have not arisen without cause, such as the retreat of the country's glaciers or rising sea levels. Pointing to the marks in an image is a way to highlight developments and events that are forgotten in the hustle and bustle of daily life. This has been an important subject for me, and I believe that by photographing the beautiful and sublime, one can be reminded of its opposite. In this way, one can draw attention to the vast and the untouched, and point out that which is important and must be protected. Despair is never far away in a world where land space is becoming ever smaller and the demands to exploit natural resources ever louder. Despair touches our cheeks every time we witness the destruction of land or when nature transforms into a roaring monster, attacking man-made places.
The artist Roni Horn used Iceland as an open-air studio and called Iceland the world's greatest source of “nowhere”. She was referring to real and untouched places that were in danger of disappearing into a world of memory and imagination. I believe that the “nowhere”, the untouched, must be seen to underline its importance. By pointing to nature and what it has to offer, we also remind ourselves of what we stand to lose.
Nature is both young and ancient. Time, as we have managed to define it, does not exist in the wilderness. I have chosen to dwell in this timelessness in my photographs. It does not matter when I stood there. Likewise, it doesn't matter how I made the picture, with what camera or what lens. The viewer sees the land through my eyes, the light I want to show, the perspective that matters to me. Not all of us see everything in great detail or with perfect focus. Many people see their surroundings more through their emotions or as an experience. Others see nature as a fragmented image, like a mosaic. Some look broadly, others narrowly.
The exhibition features photographs I have taken over the past few years. Together with my daughter, Lóa Yona, we have made a book with a selection of photographs from the last 20 years. This is a sales exhibition and the book is being published in a very limited edition.“
Þórdís is a great host and everyone is welcome.
Opening hours are as follows:
- Thursday 18:00 - 21:00
- Friday 13:00 – 21:00
- Saturday 12:00 - 18:00
- Sunday 13:00 – 18:00