#PROCESS I #MAKINGOF I #NATURE I #LANDART I #LOCALCOMMUNITIES I #PROSTRATION I #CONTEMPLATION I #FREEDOM I 2023 I #ICELAND

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In December 2022 till January 2023, I decided to go to one of the most dramatic and remote places on Earth: The WESTFJORDS, ICELAND, in order to deep-dive into the concepts of #LIMITS & TERRITORIES#. I decided to confront various parts of me and my works, with the story and the dramaturgy of local communities as well as the sceneries of these magnificent landscapes and the repeated assaults of the elements of these still untouched territories. All these confrontations have been documented through sounds, images, texts and interviews.

Summer 2021. Everything started with the ambition of floating some of my fetish photos in the Icelandic fjords. Eventually, one of the approaches was to make interact the local elements with a selection of 7 of my photographs. These were specifically selected because they were derived from my previous work on gender resilience in the face of limitations of a given context. In this latter case, the WESTFJORDS, a local environment filled with ambivalence between beauty and hostility, isolated, harsh and cold in the middle of winter.

A series of interviews have also been conducted in a secured framework and performed with local members, each one representing a special character of the community. These interviews have been documented through prepared questionnaires, audio recordings and images. Objective of these interactions was first to give the opportunity to community members to share their live experiences and knowledge. Furthermore, it has contributed to  get a better understanding of the challenges these populations endured in these remote areas and harsh conditions.

Beyond the close and warm contacts that were built through my various encounters with locals, we had the opportunity to build strong cultural bridges with local platforms like the BLUE BANK, the WESTFJORDS RESIDENCY or even the ARNI MAGNUSSON INSTITUTE OF ICELANDIC STUDIES who kindly gave us access to their audio ISMUS data base which represents a large portion of the Icelandic Folkloric Collection recorded on tape, in exchange of my documented (recordings and visuals) interviews with locals.

Art direction: @terra_kitoko

Images: @terra_kitoko

Soundtrack : @terra_kitoko

Drone images: @haukursigurdsson

Supporting organisations: (1) THE WESTFJORDS RESIDENCY, (2) The ARNI MAGNUSSON INSTITUTE OF ICELANDIC STUDIES, (3) BLÁBANKINN – BLUE BANK

© 2023 terra kikoto. All rights reserved.