About my work:
As an artist, I explore how humans relate to their environment — an environment shaped by both natural processes and societal structures. My focus is on the condition humaine and the inherent tensions it holds: between autonomy and connectedness, vulnerability and strength, temporality and continuity.
Material and theme come together in a visual practice in which I work with natural materials and plant-based forms. At the heart of this practice is the relationship between humans, nature, and society. Nature and the condition humaine form the central thread throughout.
Since earning my MFA in Video and Sound Installations from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam in 2000, my work has evolved toward cut-outs and objects made from paper, metal, or apple leather. In addition, I create delicate pencil drawings on plant leaves.
Using a self-developed technique, I decolorize, dry, and preserve the plant leaves, allowing me to use them as a surface for my drawings.
This results in a visual and conceptual interweaving of natural transience and human vulnerability, in which material and theme reinforce one another.
Below, I talk more about my work in an interview with KunstnetTV from June 2024.
Technical description of the leaf drawings:
Each leaf is placed in a mixture that dissolves its soft tissue. Then it is dried and only the supporting fabric remains, which is cellulose.
Cellulose is a fiber (polysaccharide) that gives the plant it’s structure. Cellulose is a very durable material at normal humidity.
The best-known example are the papyrus drawings from ancient Egypt.
Framed and stored at room temperature, the shelf life of the sheet drawings is equivalent to oil or acrylic paintings and drawings on paper.
As with all artwork, I strongly recommend not hanging the leaf drawings in direct sunlight or placing them in high humidity.
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©Gígja Reynisdóttir