EARTH PAINTINGS 

Media: Painting (Soil and Gouache on Linen or Paper)

Iceland 2018

While in residence at the Hafnarborg Fine Arts Museum in Iceland, I explored soil imprints on paper and linen by conducting research trips to the Reykjadalur Valley - an area whose terrain and extinct volcano (Mt. Hengill, dating back 120,000 years) are known for their particular soil characteristics, such as volcanic ash, basalt cobbles, pumice, sand gravel, and thick geothermal mud layers. This unique geochemical composition derives from both water-soluble minerals and deposits of iron, aluminum, and silica, making it a nutrient-rich habitat for various plant species adapted to its conditions. This series of small paintings, made from materials directly extracted from the ground, was created using gouache which highlighted the "islands" between cracks that were formed in the cooling process. The natural aging of the soil serves as a landscape of beautiful and complex reliefs, symbolic of the powerful forces which continuously shape the cycles of volcanoes and the Earth.