Iceland’s landscape is an enigma to me. Although I have never been, I am drawn to it from a deep place in my psyche that I express through my art. In 2019, I set out to change that by applying to a residency program in Skagaströnd, Iceland - a small fishing village with a population of 500 - where I would use the landscape as sources of inspiration for my glacier drawings. Originally planned for May 2020, the residency with NES has been postponed until 2022 or until it is safer to travel. At the start of 2020, I continued to create glacier works as part of my own “residency” in my one bedroom apartment. Below are images from the series and an explanation behind the work.
Untitled Space VI, 2020, 30” x 45”
I began my sewn paper indigo series in graduate school. Creating the work was intuitive and combining the dipped paper emerged from me effortlessly. I never thought of the pieces as specific landscapes, but only as constructs of my subconscious. I continued the series after graduating and found that viewers’ responses evolved as the work did. People repeatedly referred to them as glaciers, and I began to wonder why this happened naturally for me. I have never seen a glacier in person before, but I have consistent visions in deep mediation of glacial places.
In the wake of our climate crisis, and to further analyze my subconscious, I felt an unwavering drive to learn more about glaciers. When the icy structures melt, they buckle, heave and cry. Their cries remind me of places I have visited in my own despair, and their departure reflects the underlying theme of transience seen throughout my work.
The black and white drawings use multiple images of glaciers combined in Photoshop and then translated on paper. By combining images, I have the power to distort and skew the perspective on things that once were.
We consume to fill a void. Instead of embracing the emptiness, we have to fill it until even our planet is robbed of its resources. Our fear of emptiness perpetuates this. I chose to work on black paper for the rich and ominous space it provides, as well as its connection to our subconscious’ void. White charcoal also felt like a natural choice, because it gives me a sense of analysis – my own hand developing a new understanding for what I am making. The series is stripped of color bias and any sense of temperature, leaving that up to the viewer’s interpretation.
Maybe my depictions of glaciers will serve as reminders of what we are losing or how future generations will interpret their imagery - a vague sense of knowing but never really knowing. As I look towards 2022, I know the scope of the work will inevitably evolve and I am open to whatever the inspiration Iceland’s landscape provides me.
Aerial view of Skagaströnd, Iceland. Image credit: NES Artist Residency
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