statement

This series of photographic works acts as a counterpoint to the film essay work ‘midnight, mid-Atlantic…’ by presenting both matter-of-fact and mythologized views of the Icelandic landscape.

In the series ‘Signs That Mean Nothing’, singular, man-made elements are presented in the landscape, reflecting the implied objective, orthographic nature of the documentary photograph - their linear installation referencing the narrative of the documentary timeline structure. Conversely, the large-scale prints, ‘Gullfoss’ and ‘midnight, mid-Atlantic’, echo the spectacle and grandeur of 19th Century landscape painting and the digitally enhanced cinematography of the Hollywood epic.

The diptych ‘Tourists’, an extension of the ‘Location Shots’ series, depicts two protagonists photographing themselves photographing the Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s most well known tourist destination. Not only do these images call into question how we use photography to assert ‘I was there’, but also the veracity of the images that surround these tourists. Who is behind the camera?

Completing the loop, the final work is the film poster for the Martin MacAnally film Keflavik – the original starting point for the Researcher’s investigation in the film essay ’midnight, mid-Atlantic…’

Related works:

• signs that mean nothing

• midnight, mid-Atlantic… ; film