Photographer Thorkell Thorkelsson opened his exhibition “Icelandic Terrorists” in Smáralind shopping mall in Kópavogur on Sunday. Nearly 100 Icelanders responded to his request to be photographed with their “weapon” of choice.
Thorkell Thorkelsson working on his project. Photo by Sigurdur Jökull Ólafsson, copyright: IPA.
Thorkelsson himself and his wife Heba Soffía Björnsdóttir are among the “terrorists” portrayed in the exhibition, Morgunbladid reports.
Thorkelsson’s exhibition was inspired by the use of the anti-terrorism legislation by British authorities to freeze the assets of Icelandic banks in the UK.
“I was outraged by this measure undertaken by [British Prime Minister Gordon] Brown and [Chancellor Alastair] Darling […],” Thorkelsson said. “I wondered, what can I do to demonstrate the absurdity in this?”
“Then I figured, if Iceland is on a terrorism list, then we must be terrorists. So let’s use our sense of humor and show who these terrorists are, what they look like and what kind of weapons they use,” the photographer concluded.
There are various “weapons” in the photographs, ranging from pacifiers to pens and snowballs.
