SÍM

IN THE VASTNESS OF ART AND ENDLESS COASTLINES
By Emilie Dalum


In collaboration with SÍM, The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists, I set out to the Westfjords in the autumn of 2024 to conduct their project Portfolio Reviews – a platform which aims at strengthening urban and rural art in Iceland through exchanges between foreign curators and artists in their locales. With only 2% of the Icelandic population — approximately 7,000 people — residing in this region a significant part of the land is uninhabitable and the neighbouring villages are easily one or more fjords apart.

As a curator living in Reykjavík but working in the Westfjords, I was bound to encounter the familiar, while my appetite for the hidden longed for new discoveries, curious to explore what binds the artists to these places and how nature becomes an integral part of living and creating. During the studio visits with the artists, it became clear that art in these small societies exists, persists, and blooms in the midst of the silent dramatics of landscapes, mystique, and endless coastlines: spaces which allows for belonging, journeys, alienation, origins, immersion, and self-reflection.

In this article we meet Rut Bjarnadóttir, Hólmavík; Jean Larson, Flateyri; and Ólöf Dómhildur Jóhannsdóttir, Ísafjörður – artists who live count less mountains apart but in the same part of Iceland. From a local to a foreigner, to a newcomer, all three artists have their own unique stories to tell, and so do the places.

Read the full article at the PDF link below.


Artists

Rut Bjarnardóttir, Hólmavík

www.rut.se

After three decades of living near Lundand Malmö in Sweden, Rut Bjarnadóttir settled againin her hometown Hólmavík two years ago – a town with approx. 400 inhabitants. Over several years, she and her husband have made a full renovation of the town’s former steambath (Gamla gufubaðstofa) which is now their home. Despite many years of living abroad, Rut notes that “probably half o fHólmavík’s population is related to me”.


Jean Larson, Flateyri

www.jeanlarson.com

www.instagram.com/jeanlarsonartist

www.instagram.com/flatbirdsflateyri/

Jean Larson’s works can be found in private collections, and are represented by galleries across the U.S. Her practice expresses a collision of her surroundings and mindscapes: natural environments, living organisms, constructed worlds, and innate aesthetics paint Jean’s pictures.


Ólöf Dómhildur Jóhannsdóttir, Ísafjörður

olofdomhildur.wordpress.com/works/

www.instagram.com/olof_domhildur_art/

Ólöf Dómhildur Jóhannsdóttir has participated in group exhibitions in Iceland and overseas. In 2015, she was the chosen artist of the year in Ísafjörður, and in 2012 she co-founded Femínistafélag Vestfjarða (The Association of Feminists in the Westfjords). Born and raised in Reykjavík, Ólöf and her family moved to Ísafjörður in 2012, where she got a job as a project manager at the Edinborg Cultural Center.


About the author

Emilie Dalum (b. 1989 in Denmark) is an independent art curator and visual artist whose hybrid art practice combines cultural, personal, and intimate subjects. She holds a BA in European Ethnology from the University of Copenhagen, a one-year certificate from Fatamorgana The Danish School of Art Photography, and an MA in Curatorial Practice from the Iceland University of the Arts.

She is the founder, curator, and project manager of the exhibitions TheFactory in Djúpavík and The Tub in Þingeyri, both in the Westfjords of Iceland. Her works of art have been exhibited in institutions and galleries in Iceland.

Her work includes curation, project management, writing, mediation, photography, drawing, poetry, and installations.

https://emiliedalum.com/


Portfolio Reviews is a platform which aims at strengthening urban and rural art in Iceland through exchanges between foreign curators and artists in their local community.