The exhibition “Heima – Heiman” (“Home and Away”) by Katrín Elvarsdóttir and Sigrún Sigurdardóttir opens at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography today, featuring portraits of individuals who have escaped from their home countries to Iceland.
Most of those featured in the exhibition have been forced to leave their homes because of conflicts and some have lived in refugee camps for a period of time. What all of these people have in common is that they have created new lives for themselves in Iceland.
Sylvia Kithole Moudi. Born in Kenya 1975, came to Iceland in 2006.
Through “Home and Away” visitors to the museum are provided with an insight to the lives of refugees and asylum-seekers who have come to Iceland in recent years and past decades. In Elvarsdóttir’s photographs they show us who they are.
Each photograph is accompanied with excerpts from interviews with the subjects conducted by Sigurdardóttir so that viewers can also learn about their backgrounds. During the exhibition, parts of the interviews are also played on tape.
Elvarsdóttir is an accomplished photographer and Sigurdardóttir specializes in photographic studies, more specifically, the significance of photographs for people’s perception and understanding of reality, past and present.
The photographs will be for sale and all profits go to the Red Cross of Iceland. The exhibition runs until November 23.
