Gomma Photography Grant 2022
Imprints
Photographer
Charlotta Hauksdottir
Imprints
11 Jan, 2023
The landscapes in this series are a continuation of work I started in 2003. It began as an emotional response to the landscape and has evolved into an interpretation of the effect we are having on nature. After photographing in Iceland over all these years I began seing big changes in the landscape caused by climate change and that has integrated into the work where I am cutting up the photographs effectively destroying the landscape. I travel extensively both in California and Iceland and take multiple photographs in each location I visit. Creating each piece, I begin by selecting a pattern I want to work with, fingerprint, brain circuits, palm print, periorbital veins, topographical or simply erasing parts of the image. Then I select the images, print them and hand cut the prints and use various mixed media to assemble the work. The results are sculptural 3-dimensional pieces indicative of natural formations. In some of the pieces I use black velvet to highlight the loss of the landscape and also text from an essay on climate change by Michael E. Mann.
About the photographer
Charlotta Hauksdottir
Charlotta María Hauksdóttir is an Icelandic visual artist based in California, who uses photography, collage and mixed media in her work. Residing in the USA for over 20 years, she still draws inspiration from her home country Iceland. Created from the perspective of her experience with epilepsy, her work centers around the unique connection one has to places and moments in time, and how memories embody and elevate those connections. Hauksdóttir received a BA in Photography from the Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome, Italy, in 1997 and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004. She also holds a Diploma in Creative and Critical Thinking from the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited around the world, with solo exhibitions in the USA, Russia, and Iceland including numerous group shows and photography festivals. Her photographs have been published in several magazines and books, as well as a monograph “A Sense of Place - Imprints of Iceland” by Daylight Books that is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, SFMOMA, and Princeton among others. Hauksdóttir’s work is also part of numerous private and public collections such as Stanford Health Care and Reykjavik Museum of Photography.
