Páll Stefánsson´s images of Icelandic scenery until end of August are exhibited at the Nordic Council of Ministers´ Office in Latvia, 13/3 Marijas Str, Bergs Bazaar, Riga.
Páll Stefánsson about the exhibition: „What makes a nation? It must be the wind. As a photographer, I have never quite managed to capture the wind during the quarter century I’ve been photographing my country, Iceland. This, despite the fact that I’ve scrutinized every shape and color, the light, and anything else I am able to see. Sometimes Iceland seems gigantic when compared with countries like Belgium, Denmark, Israel or El Salvador. At other times, it seems no more than a speck compared with countries like Canada, China, Brazil or Mali.
Iceland is sparse; just over 300,000 inhabitants formed by the wind, the light, the short winter days. But it’s the wind in particular that I’ve never quite managed to photograph.
Why these pictures? To me, they’re creating a certain mood. Showing a land being formed. A land diverse in light and color, a new land not unlike the nation that lives here in the north just below the Arctic Circle. A faraway land closer than you think; just five hours from New York, and under three hours from London.
But one shouldn’t talk about pictures; one should enjoy them. After all, a picture is worth more than a thousand words.â€
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