All in Iceland
Imagine a world of peace. On this upcoming 18th year of the lighting the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland, I look back at my own peace activations. In 2020 I created a paper world of peace filled with green forests, clear blue waters and white polar icecaps. As I made it I imagined the activisms for peace throughout the world. Now more than ever activating peace is vital to us and our planet.
When I struggle to make sense of the world or my purpose in it, I realise that life is a constantly evolving journey. When I combined the cyanotype images made during my artist residency in Iceland last year, with screenprinted cosmic portals, I felt time looping backwards and forwards through my artworks.
I returned from Greenland looking for ice in Iceland. I found it in the Perlan Museum in Reykjavik. Scientists and glaciologists in Iceland confidently predict that all of Iceland glaciers will disappear within the next 100 - 200 years. What will happen to Greenland?
It’s easy to get lost in the big picture, the huge landscape and forget the details, That’s when I find it's necessary to pull focus. Which is what I did by visiting Petra’s stone collection, the inspirational garden of Iceland’s most famous stone collector, naturalist and stone artist.
In an Icelandic town known for its postcard beauty, trouble looms ahead. Still reeling from an avalanche nearly 18 months ago, the small town of Seydisfjördur is about to have industrial fish farms in the fjord. Locals are up in arms and the arty community is rallying.
How do you apply for an artist residency and how do you prepare to go to one? There are three key components in each application process that I use when writing my submissions. You need to articulate what you do, why you do it and how it fits the application criteria.
Art as activism sends a powerful message which can speak to the emotions of people. It is one way to bear witness to the events going on around me. I realised that the new work I am making in the studio is a direct result of watching a program, Glacial Narratives presented by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre in the Outer Hebrides.
How much do you value yourself? Do you give yourself permission to go on really wild and scary adventures? I have given myself permission to take a helicopter ride to view the active volcano in Iceland, if it is still erupting in April 2022. It is something even a year ago I wouldn’t have contemplated.
The search for peace and love is ongoing, especially in the midst of worldwide chaos and upheaval. The annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower gives a focus to that impulse, if only for one hour on one day of the year.
Big ideas that start with a “what if?” What if we could build a lighthouse that streams the impulse of peace into the world for all to see. What would this look like? Yoko Ono and John Lennon imagined this into reality. They inspired me to bring the spirit of this Imagine Peace to Murwillumbah on Friday 9th October at 6pn ADST in conjunction with my exhibition Fire & Ice about Iceland. This event coincides with the annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower on Videy Island, near Reykjavik to commemorate John Lennon’s birthday.
