Bjargey Ólafs­dótt­ir│­SCINTILLA: Look into the light, my dear, and not into the shadow over there

Reykjavík Museum of Photography

Thus she may be likened to a versatile musician who has mastered many instruments, as Bjargey works in film, sound art, performance art, drawing, painting and photography. 

The exhibition _Scintilla_ is a collection of symbols which have come into being, either in the artist’s dreams, or have sprung into her consciousness between sleeping and waking. Bjargey takes the observer with her into a world where beauty and the spiritual reign; where such diverse subjects as the hand of God, mountains, a magic box, an elven baptismal font, scarves and drawings of high-heeled shoes play a role, bathed in a mystical light and gaudy colour. While Bjargey is here continuing to explore the territory of magical realism and surrealism, as in her prior work, she does not focus on the individual as such – she seeks to photograph sensations which are expressed in these objects. 


Bjargey takes the observer with her into a world where beauty and the spiritual reign; where such diverse subjects as the hand of God, mountains, a magic box, an elven baptismal font, scarves and drawings of high-heeled shoes play a role, bathed in a mystical light and gaudy colour.

In the past two years, Bjargey has participated in artists residencies in Chile and Argentina providing her with great inspiration from which she is still working; perhaps the colourfulness in her new works derives from there.

“I will lend you my ragged shawl, my ragged shawl for dancing in… chants the ghostly infant of Icelandic folklore. But what was Bjargey doing, out in the grassfield with her ragged shawl…?” She captured an unfathomable world… in a sort of trance she danced in a world we know, and she succeeded in reaching a world that exists, but a world which did not exist,” artist Ingibjörg Magnadóttir writes about Bjargey.


Bjargey Ólafsdóttir (b.1972) has MFA degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, Finland and studied Screenwriting and Film directing from Binger Film Institute, Amsterdam, Holland. Her works have been exhibited widely, both in the field of Fine Art and at film festivals in 26 countries e.g. Traschi Gallery, Santiago de Chile, Moore Foundation, Miami, Kunstwerke Berlin, WUK Kunsthalle Austria, Moscow House of Photography, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Reykjavik Art Museum, National Gallery of Iceland, Manifesta Foundation Amsterdam, München Kunstverein, Stockholm International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, USA and Nordisk Panorama, Reykjavík.

In 2008 Bjargey was granted the first prize of _The Penninn_ art award and was nominated to the DV culture prize in Iceland. Later in this month, Bjargey´s short films will be shown at the Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden.


Bjargey Ólafsdóttir│SCINTILLA: Look into the light, my dear, and not into the shadow over there

The art of Bjargey Ólafsdóttir is not confined to a single medium – she picks the medium she feels is most apt for each concept.

Bjargey Ólafs­dótt­ir│­SCINTILLA: Look into the light, my dear, and not into the shadow over there

The art of Bjargey Ólafsdóttir is not confined to a single medium – she picks the medium she feels is most apt for each concept.

Bjargey Ólafsdóttir│SCINTILLA: Look into the light, my dear, and not into the shadow over there