The Ísafjörður Art Museum warmly welcomes guests to the opening of the duo exhibition by Katla Rúnarsdóttir and Mirjam Maekalle: The Language of Care. The opening takes place on Good Friday, April 18 at 16:00 in the museum’s exhibition hall on the second floor of Ísafjörður Culture House. Light refreshments will be served.

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How do we express care? Through conversation, actions, traditions, objects—or the spaces we create between ourselves? Care often manifests in subtle, quiet moments. It can be found in customs, family stories, everyday rituals, and the gentle gestures of daily life. Katla Rúnarsdóttir and Mirjam Maekalle each explore these ideas through two- and three-dimensional works that reflect on selfhood, connection, and the expression of care in diverse ways.

Mirjam Maekalle creates installations with drawings and sculptures that speak to care through touch and listening. She works with symbolic forms that repeat and reappear in various materials. "In my drawings, I search for the shape of an embrace and translate it into different materials such as metal and plaster. Through the act of handling the material, the forms emerge both from imagination and from the sensation of touch. My work centers on the form of an embrace and the importance of listening as a way of showing care."

Katla Rúnarsdóttir presents part of her master’s project CARE-KER for the first time in Iceland. Her works explore how humans show care for one another through the act of sharing a meal. Using her own family members and traditional Icelandic dinner settings as inspiration, she creates sculptural figures—each one unique, personal, and human. The figures are dressed in clothing or mid-sip of a drink, referencing specific family members. The dining scene appears scattered and chaotic—creatures seated across the space, waiting for Grandpa to call out: "DINNER!"

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About the artists: 
Katla Rúnarsdóttir (b. 1996) is an independent visual artist based in Reykjavík. She holds an MA in ceramics from HDK-Valand, Gothenburg (2024), and a BA in Fine Art from the Iceland University of the Arts (2019). Her works reflect her roots in Ísafjörður, blending humor and tenderness in quirky sculptures and immersive installations.

Mirjam Maekalle was born in Estonia and raised in Ísafjörður. She currently lives in Reykjavík and graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2023. She also holds a BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Iceland. A recurring theme in her work is the human condition and the space between binaries.