22/09/2023

“All her life she lived
beside the waterfall.
It was her good friend,
she loved it deeply.
It was as if it had become
a part of herself.
Listening to its varying song,
Sometimes a whisper,
sometimes as thunder.
One day
there came strangers.
With big ideas,
of progress,
to dam the waterfall.
Imprisoning her friend.
To harness its energy.
That day I will throw myself into the waterfall.”

þann dag… (That Day…), Installation, 2001, Rúrí.

This poem is part of an installation at the Reykjavik Art Museum by Icelandic artist Rúrí highlighting the iconic figure Sigríður Tómasdóttir—Iceland’s first environmentalist who’s activism preserved Gullfoss waterfall, protecting it from industrialization (being harnessed for hydropower in the early 20th century).(1)

Today I did not jump into the waterfall.

Sources:
(1) Poem and information from museum label, Kaleidoscope: Icelandic 21st Century Art, Reykjavik Art Museum Hafnarhús

24/09/2023

Greens blanket the vast lava fields of Iceland. The 460 species of moss growing here(1) are not only valuable for aesthetics but vital for the island’s fragile ecosystem. They prevent soil erosion, retain humidity and are habitats for micro-organisms, preparing the land for other plants to grow.

Reforestation and soil restoration are major environmental focuses here as a consequence of past wood cutting, livestock grazing as well as harsh climate and volcanic eruptions.(2)

Don’t disturb the moss! Touching and stepping on the moss is harmful and will kill them. Once damaged, it takes many years for them to recover. (3)

Sources:
(1) Icelandic Institute of Natural History (ni.is/en/flora-funga/flora/mosses-liverworts)
(2) Government of Iceland (government.is/topics/environment-climate-and-nature-protection/soil-conservation/)
(3) Educating tourists about the moss - Mr. Moss, Iceland Air

28/09/2023

I am standing in a place that will cease to exist next year.

“Glaciers make visible time…bringing to light immediate, visceral, undeniable proof of a broken clock ticking erratically into our future.”(1)

Scientists predict the glaciers in Iceland will retreat and lose half of their volume by 2100, and we will be left with ice caps in 200 years.(2)

Sources:
(1) ‘After Ice’ is a short documentary film that overlays imagery from the archives of the National Land Survey of Iceland with current day footage of the glaciers
(2) ‘Melting Glaciers’ on Vatnajökull National Park website (vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is)

20/10/23

Today at the Museum of Prophecies(1), I reach my right hand into a dark pouch and pick out the Isa rune. It is the 11th rune in the Elder Futhark (the Icelandic alphabet). Resembling the character for ‘I’ in the latin alphabet, it also resembles the dashes I am painting.

Isa literally translates to ‘ice’. The teller interprets that my mind is frozen, in a state of stasis or stillness. Rest assured—feel the warmth within and find passion to melt the ice and let the water flow in her true direction.

“Ice is beautiful and treacherous. It lulls the traveler to sleep with its peace and serenity. Ice locks life under its surface and keeps it motionless. However, there is little else as powerful as the slow moving glacier, which can tear apart even the bedrock as it inches forward.”(2)

“The rune is linked to potential and transformation, much like ice can melt into water or freeze into a glacier. It’s a reminder of the potential within us all and the transformative power of time and patience.”(3)

Notes & Sources:
(1) Spákonuhof was founded by five local women of Skagaströnd as a place of storytelling and fortune telling. The exhibition focuses on Þórdís the Pagan Prophetess and first settler of the area in the 10th century, who is also mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas. The teller proudly refers to Þórdís as the first feminist of Iceland.
(2) Interpretation of the Isa rune (runesecrets.com)
(3) Interpretation of the Isa rune (vikingr.org/magic-symbols/isa)

Breathing Material

Emerging in my thoughts, guided by walks along the shore, are questions of material.

“Artistic creation is said to be one of the most important things for humans, but we aren’t investing in making this specific practice natural...to make painting a regenerative practice, not something that uses finite resources as its building block.”(1)

Here, an abundance of algae (seaweed / kelp) washes ashore. On today’s walk, I notice they are starting to rot, to decompose, to disintegrate. I imagine they will eventually dissolve back into the sea from which they came, leaving no trace.

Algae form the forests of the sea, producing 70% more oxygen and absorbing carbon more effectively than trees.(2)

I source algae that washes ashore, with a particular fondness for the edible red algae. I discover in my research that they are a very primitive group and are only distantly related to plants and animals. Instead of roots and leaves, algae anchor to solid objects like rocks by holdfasts and absorb nutrients directly from the water.(3)

Sources:
(1) Algae by Marius Melissas, Future Materials Bank (https://www.futurematerialsbank.com/material/algae-6/)
(2) Marine Conservation Society (mcsuk.org)
(3) Seaiceland.is

Biophilia Hypothesis

The Biophilia Hypothesis(1) describes humans innate fascination and emotional affiliation to Nature—the love of Life.

“The biological evolution of our species took place in the wilderness, the Nature of the Late Pleistocene. For about 95% of our evolutionary history, humans survived as hunter-gatherers.”(2)

Our relationship with Nature changed after the invention of agriculture about 14,000 years ago (~15% of human evolution), when we started to distinguish domesticated Nature (good) and wild Nature (bad). Fast forward to the 18th century, with the Industrial Revolution (~0.1%, irrelevant period from the point of view of evolution), humans urbanized.(2)

Constructing and living in urban environments with increasingly dense populations and decrease in green spaces result in the reduction of natural stimuli important for developing biophilia.(2)

Sources:
(1) A collection of essays by Edward O. Wilson and Stephen R. Kellert (1993)
(2) Selected information from ‘Biophilia as Evolutionary Adaptation: An Onto- and Phylogenetic Framework for Biophilic Design’, a literature review by Giuseppe Barbiero and Rita Berto (2021) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8334556/)

This material experiment embraces the biophilia hypothesis by engaging Iceland’s knitting culture with the abundant natural material washed ashore. Through first-hand experience, the repetitive technique of knitting is both cathartic and involves the skin being continually in-touch with biomaterial. Energy input form loops transforming material into complex shapes requiring no additional adhesive to hold together.

Ephemeral art (popularized in the 1960s by the Fluxus art movement)(1) is a kind of artistic expression rooted in transience and non-permanence. Creative traditions such as the temporary sand mandalas made by Tibetan Buddhist Monks demonstrate the intrinsic value of creation, which lies in the act itself and not the object it embodies.

Within the context of ephemeral art, these ecological sculptures are fully biodegradable and can be returned, without a trace, to their source—the Ocean.

Source:
(1) Art Terms, Tate (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/e/ephemeral-art#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20forms%20of,in%20a%20museum%20or%20gallery.)