Diary of a Weather Reporter #2 (July 2022)

Shelters

"While I have been resident in Library of Water in Stykkishólmur on the Snæfellsnes-peninsula in West-Iceland the last couple of months – and participated in the World Weather Network, I started again working on my series Shelter. I worked on the series Shelter from 2009 until 2015 and works from the series have been exhibited in various forms in several countries.

The beginning of this series can be traced back to the collapse of the Icelandic banks and economy in the fall of 2008. At that time I asked myself how I could reflect in my medium on the turmoil, and Shelter became one of the projects.

These often sturdy shelters can be found all over Iceland. They are built with only functionality in mind, without any influence from the latest trends in architecture or design. The shelters are built with care, from the materials at hand, and are given the forms their creators invent and believe in. These are the shelters thoughtful shepherds build for their animals, mainly horses. During the economic storms in 2008 and the years after I saw these simple constructions as a metaphor for the shelter Icelanders were seeking in a world turned upside down.

In Iceland, animal welfare laws state that farmers must provide the livestock with good shelter against the storms that often beat on the island. In the open landscape, these various structures they build with the material at hand serve as a true shelter against the raging storms, but can also in a way be viewed as land-art – sculptures in the fields."

- Einar Falur Ingólfsson

Einar Falur Ingólfsson

Einar Falur Ingólfsson (1966) is an Icelandic photographer and writer. For over a decade he has worked on several long-term projects which have been exhibited in various forms in museums in Iceland, other European countries and the US. A couple of his projects have been published in acclaimed books. In some of his projects, he has engaged in collaborations with work produced by artists and writers in the past. In 2021 he wrapped up a visual diary of 20 months, About Time, photographed in Iceland, India and Italy, which became an exhibition in BERG Contemporary gallery and a book. www.einarfalur.com

Einar Falur Ingólfsson is publishing daily photographic reports via Instagram (@dailyweatherreports) and a longer monthly report, compiling photography, video and writing, via the World Weather Network.

Commissioned by Icelandic Art Center.

Part of the weather station in Stykkishólmur, Iceland - find out more here.