There are many considerations around the phenomenology of place and memory, of home and the landscapes from our childhood–experiences fundamental to a sense of self. Photographer Charlotta María Hauksdóttir has created a masterful body of photographs that breaks open her memories of Iceland, presenting work in a variety of layered and intriguing presentations. She examines landscape with a myriad of approaches, but most exciting is the deconstructing of familiar vistas using “fingerprint patterns that evoke the uniqueness of our connection with nature”. By literally opening up space, she allows for considerations of the past, of undergrowth, of worlds hidden from view creating a new perspective of looking at place.
This work has just been released as a new monograph, A Sense of Place: Imprints of Iceland, published by Daylight Books. You can order the book by contacting Charlotta directly: charlottamh@gmail.com. The book itself is fascinating, starting with an icy blue linen cover. Many pages open to a tri-fold, extending the landscape in all directions. The book concludes with her exploration of patterns, a nod to the idea that nothing will stay the same and will eventually be replaced. A foreword by David Rosenberg and an essay by Guðbjörg R. Jóhannesdóttir complete the journey through place and memory.
Charlotta will also have and Artist’s Talk and book signing at the Center for Photographic Arts on Friday, January 31, 5:30-7:30pm.
Charlotta María Hauksdóttir is an Icelandic artist based in California, working primarily in photography. Residing in the USA for over 16 years, she still draws inspiration from her home country Iceland. Her work centers around the unique connection one has to places and moments in time, and how memories embody and elevate those connections. Charlotta graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with an MFA in Photography, in 2004, and received a BA in Photography from the Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome, Italy, in 1997.
Her work has been exhibited around the world, with solo exhibitions in the USA, Russia, and Iceland, most recently at the Reykjavik Museum of Photography. She has received a number of awards and has been published in several magazines and books. Her work is part of numerous public and private collections all over the world, including corporate collections.
A Sense of Place
The physical space of landscapes can be closely tied to a person’s identity, sense of being, and infused with personal history. The landscapes in the series “Imprints” are a re-creation of places and scenes from an estranged homeland. The series includes human scale composite images, images that utilize fingerprint patterns that evoke the uniqueness of our connection with nature, and abstract landscapes where several sheets of photographic paper with variable cutouts are layered together imitating landforms that have formed over time. The visible and obscured parts of the landscape suggest the interplay of effects between man and nature, as well as the imperfections of memory, with juxtaposed textures emphasizing the mind’s inability to retain and fully comprehend its environment. The discontinuity between the images also induces the viewer to draw on their own experiences to complete the work. Finally, by utilizing the textures of human fingerprints, the images speak to our individual responsibility for our impressions upon nature.
