Iceland Photography Festival is an international festival held every other year, now from January 17th to 26th. The festival takes place at fourteen exhibition venues in the capital region. The festival directors are Katrín Elvarsdóttir and Pétur Thomsen. The festival lasts for nine days, but most of the exhibitions run much longer. The festival's website, www.tipf.is features the schedule and links to all exhibitions and events.
Among the events is the Portfolio Review, a brief meeting where a photographer or artist brings their images, either on paper or in digital format, to present to a reviewer. Reviewers include both international and Icelandic professionals, such as curators and/or exhibition managers from museums and galleries, or editors of photography magazines. In addition to providing feedback on the participants' works, participating in a photography review may lead to opportunities such as invitations to foreign festivals and/or exhibition participation both locally and internationally. The goal of the review is to expand the photographers' networks across all photography fields and artists working with the medium, as well as to offer them advice and feedback on their works. It also serves as an important platform for promoting Icelandic photography culture. Registration for the photography review is closed.
The festival’s opening exhibition is a group show titled "Weathered" at the Reykjavik Museum of Photography. Sixteen members of the Icelandic Association of Contemporary Photographers exhibit under the curatorship of Daría Sól Andrews.
Other larger exhibitions include "Intimacies of the Everyday" at the National Gallery of Iceland, "Stare" at Kópavogur Art Museum, a solo exhibition by Helgi Vignir Bragason titled "Still Lifespan" at the Hafnarfjörður Centre of Culture and Fine Art, "Bystander" by Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir and Nina Zurier at BERG Contemporary, and "Either Side of the Table" by Hrafn Hólmfríðarson and Þórsteinn Svanhildarson at Gallery Port.
Other exhibition venues are listed below, and as mentioned earlier, links to the exhibitions can be found on the festival’s website.
Image: An Obscure Self Portrait, Adele Hyry, 2020.
Joakim Eskildsen, Dinner; from the series Home Works
Either Side of the Table, Hrafn Hólmfríðarson & Þórsteinn Svanhildarson
Helgi Vignir Bragason, Still Lifespan
Hlynur Helgason, Not a Knowledge at All
Exhibitions:
BERG Contemporary Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir and Nina Zurier present photographs in the exhibition "Bystander".
Fischersund Hertta Kiiski and Janni Punkari showcase works in the exhibition "sky worm's secret".
Gallery Kannski Three artists present works in the exhibition "Cracks", by Lisa Kereszi, Magdalena Lukasiak, and Nermine El Ansari.
Gallery Port "Either Side of the Table" is a joint exhibition of two photographers at the artist-run Gallery Port on Hallgerðargata in Laugarnes. Photographers Hrafn Hólmfríðarson (Krummi) and Þórsteinn Svanhildarson share the experience of living with disability, but in different ways. Þórsteinn provides care, while Hrafn receives it. Hrafn (born 1990) suffered a brainstem hemorrhage in 2009 and is physically disabled as a result of the incident. He struggles with balance issues, fine motor impairment, and loss of touch sensation on the right side of his body. In his works, Hrafn shows photographs offering insight into his relationship with his mother, Fríða. Þórsteinn (born 1988) became a father to his daughter Sól in the summer of 2021. Sól was born with the extremely rare Rubinstein Taybi syndrome, which causes developmental disabilities and physical impairment. In his works, Þórsteinn presents photographs from the daily life of his family, which, despite numerous challenges, strives to live a traditional life. Through visual conversation, they share each other's perspectives and gain understanding of the profound impact disability has on their close environments.
Gerðarsafn The exhibition "Stare" features works by Adele Hyry, Dýrfinna Benita Basalan, Jenny Rova, JH Engström, Jói Kjartans, Kristín G. Harðarson, Michael Richardt, and Sadie Cook. The subjects in the exhibition face the audience vulnerably, inviting us to come closer and gaze at them. But they stare back, no longer passive objects of the photographer’s lens but active protagonists in their own story. We are welcome, yet we have entered their domain. The works speak in radical whispers, and we must step closer to hear the unrest. The unrest resides in personal narratives—stories of the world told from the unique perspective of each artist. Photography plays the lead role in this exhibition, but imperfection characterizes many of the images, where carefully crafted composition and technical perfection are abandoned to reach sincerity and draw closer to life. Rawness is employed to push us into an emotional dimension, showing us the energy, trauma, chaos, and drama of life—but also the humor and ingenuity. Traditional photographic rules are broken in an honest ode to the medium. Here we find great beauty, though not the kind typically seen in fine art or landscape painting—here we encounter thundering punk texts, diary entries, open hearts, bodily fluids, and exposure, which in their delicate vulnerability become unbreakable.
Grafíksalurinn Hlynur Helgason shows photographs in the exhibition "Not a Knowledge at All". The works are a new series of cyanotypes from this year, results of research into the possibilities of artificial intelligence in image-making.
Hafnarborg Helgi Vignir Bragason presents "Still Lifespan". This exhibition is a visual investigation of buildings and construction materials, a subject Helgi has explored for a long time. The work involves a layered analysis of the beginnings and ends of buildings, with a critical examination of various aspects of the construction industry, such as material usage, waste, and environmental impact. The exhibition includes still life photographs based on construction waste or symbols of prosperity found at construction sites, as well as images of broken concrete and drawings of buildings that have been demolished long before their time. Curated by Aldís Arnardóttir.
Gallery Artists Brynjar Gunnarsson presents works in the exhibition "The City".
Listhús Ófeigs Christine Gísladóttir shows works in the exhibition "Desire for Peace". The exhibition opens up Christine's thoughts on the tension between the search for goodness and beauty in everyday life and the fear of conflict that currently prevails in many parts of the world. Amidst these themes, hope and a longing for peace emerge.
National Gallery of Iceland The group exhibition "Intimacies of the Everyday" includes over 60 photographs by renowned international artists: Agnieszka Sosnowska, Joakim Eskildsen, Niall McDiarmid, Orri Jónsson, and Sally Mann. The works on display were selected from specific photo series by each artist, revealing a deep passion for photographing people in places that are close to them. The exhibition revolves around the idea that certain moments can only be captured by building intimacy, attention, and contemplation with the subjects over an extended period of time. The works on display clearly show how well the photographers know the people they are photographing, and the approach is filled with affection. The photographs also demonstrate how willing the subjects are to participate in the artistic process. The trust and understanding at play often verge on being artistic collaboration.
Reykjavik Museum of Photography The opening exhibition of the festival, "Weathered", is a group show featuring sixteen members of the Icelandic Association of Contemporary Photographers: Bára Kristinsdóttir, Björn Árnason, Bjargey Ólafsdóttir, Bragi Þór Jósefsson, Claire Paugam, Einar Falur Ingólfsson, Eva Schram, Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir, Jóna Þorvaldsdóttir, Katrín Elvarsdóttir, Kristín Sigurðardóttir, María Kjartansdóttir, Nina Zurier, Stuart Richardson, Valdimar Thorlacius, and Þórsteinn Svanhildarson. The artists use the photographic medium in diverse ways, working with different themes. Some of the photographs show nature in all its glory, where one can strongly feel how small human beings are in comparison to the forces of nature. In other works, we see abandoned landscapes, with a focus on environmental protection, pointing to environmental hazards and consumerism. Curated by Daría Sól Andrews.
Neskirkja Þórdís Jóhannesdóttir exhibits works in the exhibition "Form".
Safnahúsið "The book is now" by Hans Gremmen from FW books in Amsterdam.
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