Hairdressing Comptetition, 1973. Photo: Bjarnleifur Bjarnleifsson (1915-1987)

Reykjavík Museum of Photography

The Museum stores and preserves film from individual photographers who have worked as press photographers, as well as film from specific periodicals and other media. After combing its own inventory in search of exhibition materials, the Reykjavík Museum of Photography now presents over a hundred journalistic photographs from the period 1965-1975.  Most of the photos presented here have not been seen by the public before. Those that have been published are often tiny with respect to the size of the page, clipped and cut, badly printed, and relegated to a sort of second-class status as support material for a written narrative.

Can a press photo stand alone, independent of the written narrative it originally accompanied – does it have a right to an independent existence?

The press photographer’s role is often limited to the event under scrutiny. The work habits of the photographer are often characterized by speed, by rapid reactions. Newspaper photographs are actually intended to have a short life span; they tend to be seen as professional data and are not highly valued in and of themselves. As a result, they have often been poorly stored and preserved.

This exhibition removes the press photograph from its original role and context as the silent supporter of a verbal story. The photo is enlarged and displayed on a wall: thus its value changes dramatically; the picture achieves a new weight and significance than that which it was originally intended to have, and it is allowed unhindered freedom of expression. The impressions and interpretations of the viewer are not directed onto specific paths; rather, the observer has the opportunity to experience the photograph from his own perspective.

By standing alone and free – untitled – a good press photograph acquires an existence apart from the event and attains an independent right to be.

´65-´75 │Icelandic Press Photography

Press photographs represent one of the largest single categories of the Reykjavík Museum of Photography’s graphic material.

´65-´75 │Icelandic Press Pho­to­graphy

Press photographs represent one of the largest single categories of the Reykjavík Museum of Photography’s graphic material.

´65-´75 │Icelandic Press Photography