Mitch Karunaratne (UK)
LANDSLAG
10.- 19.10 2014
Åpning fredag 10.10 kl. 19.

Mitch Karunaratne benytter fotografiet til å utforske de følelsesmessige tilknytningene mennesker har til fysiske omgivelser – steder vi definerer som våre hjem eller opphav. I sitt arbeid søker hun etter alternative måter å fortelle historier som er visuelt gjenkjennelig for andre. I serien Landslag portretteres islandsk landskap og natur som en viktig del av islendingers identitet:

“Icelandic land is deeply marked by history and meaning for Icelandic people. It is vital to local memory and a deep source of “Icelandic-ness”. In a recent survey, Icelanders rated landscape as the most important national symbol distinguishing them from other nations, more important than the national flag or the language, one that gives Icelanders a shared sense of identity.

Both histories and mythologies are embedded in this land. Landscape is, as De Certeau suggested, not a surface, an objective, fixed or neutral stage, but it is part of the social space. Stories, events and memories are not just imprinted onto the land, but the landscape is part of the historical consciousness lived in modern life.

Last summer I was invited to spend 6 weeks in a small town in the far north of Iceland. The town had formerly been the centre of the region’s herring industry and then in the early 1950’s the herring left. Coming from a culture where landscape is the triumph of humans over nature, I was interested to engage with the Icelandic landscape – landslag – where the idea is based on humans and nature having an interconnected relationship.”

Mitch Karunaratne bor og arbeider i London som fotograf og lærer. Hun har studert fotografi (MA, 2012) og kulturgeografi ved universitetet i Brighton. http://mitchkarunaratne.co.uk