Waiting Door
2022

multimedia installation

Korpúlfsstaðir

Reykjavík, Iceland

As part “tunglið, tunglið taktu mig”
a group exhibition within the SÍM residency program.

Found objects assembled into a shrine. Variable dimensions.

Wooden/metal chair covered in mud with hand-carved magic tree symbol; sheep head signed and split in two; nylon ropes; soil; water; earthworms; dandelions.

While in Iceland, I have been working on a photographic series that is ongoing through the summer. The residence offered us a rare group exhibition at the beautiful Korpúlfsstaðir SÍM location with only a month’s notice. I decided to present an installation consisting only of found objects and materials from the surroundings. A sort of diary of the many walkabouts and peculiar aspects of this land. Both in regards to tangible elements, but also the pagan spirituality with which I deeply identify. 

The elements here are mundane: a chair found in the streets of Reykjavík that I adapted by removing parts of it and covering it with mud from the fields. Then carving the symbol of a magic tree (whose branches are seen in various artifacts of Icelandic pagan practices said to keep bad spirits away.) I used the chair as an upwards gateway, suspended from the ceiling in a manner that resembles a person hung by the neck. Below its dangling legs, lies a small burial ground for the head of a sheep (the most consumed mammal in the country) which has been signed and split in two. Dandelions (a prominent flower during the month of May here) cover the grave ever so gently, revealing the gruesome image only to those who may look more closely.

As usual with my installation works, I am interested in narratives of objects that have a life and death to them and mark a clear passage of time during the exhibition.