Migration is Life

Three of my paintings were shown in "Migration is Life," a group exhibition curated by Wiola Ujazdowska and Ragni Ásvaldsdóttir as part of the "Wiosna/Vor" festival. They depict the dissonance between the hopes tied to migration and the harsh reality migrants meet on the ground, and grew out of a month-long residency I spent in Egilsstaðir, East Iceland.

One of the paintings refers to the fire on 25 June 2020 at Bræðraborgarstígur 1 in Reykjavík, in which three Polish migrants died. The building had long been described by journalists as unfit for residential use, and certainly not for housing so many people. The private company that ran the building failed to provide adequate safety measures for the migrant workers living there. The fire sparked a public debate over the poor living conditions of migrants and helped consolidate the Polish community in Iceland. The building has since been torn down, and unfortunately no attempt has been made to commemorate the people who lost their lives in the fire.

"Aluminium Smelter" depicts a plant in the Egilsstaðir region, where many migrant workers, including from Eastern Europe, are employed. During construction of the hydropower plant supplying the smelter, 1,700 migrant workers were injured, five of whom died.

1. "...he named it Snæland because it was snowing; Bræðraborgarstígur 1", oil on canvas, 170×200 cm, 2025
2. "Roses in Snow", acrylic on canvas, 130×170 cm, 2025
3. "Aluminium Smelter", oil on canvas, 130×150 cm, 2025