VISUAL Diary
An attempt to subvert social media and stay in touch with those around me. Remember when Instagram was for sharing photos?
117
ƒ/1.7 | 1/80 | ISO1600
State of Things
I took this photograph on 11.10.2019 and titled it, State of Things. In the time from October 2019 until December 2021, a lot has changed. And still, the only thing that needs changing and has absolutely not changed is the destruction of our society’s dependence on an economic system that directly benefits those who are most willing to expose the value of other human lives without consideration of their intrinsic value. We were in a crisis in 2019. Our rents were skyrocketing and the Main Street in Reykjavik was being inundated with empty storefronts. Businesses were increasingly shuttering while the prices rose to combat an unattainable bottom line.
So now, in the face our 21st month of a pandemic that has ground all life to a halt, only the rich can claim that we are doing our best to stop the failing of society. Prices are in a place that makes shopping impossible and eating a meal out is basically a luxury that only someone who can afford to miss two weeks work can fathom. Now, in many ways, I am absolutely a member of that group, and yet, I am farther from the top of that group than I am from the group below it, the one that has no chance to make it in this state of things. I can afford a few things here and there but I cannot afford to miss any time of work. If we are told to look in the mirror and say that we currently live in the greatest of times, what are they looking into the mirror thinking? And if I am so lucky, why does it feel more and more like a coming revolution is meant to be lead by those who are aware of how unequal this world is?
114
ƒ/6.3 | 1/250 | ISO400
Kerið
We’ve been having a lot of earthquakes again, so in turn, I have been thinking about landscape more. This is from a spot on southern part of Iceland, pretty close to the largest cluster of summer homes in the country. It’s a volcanic crater that is around 3000 years old. The photograph I took is directly inspired by an old photo of one of my wife’s relatives at the same place many years ago.
