Project Statement:
The physical space of landscapes can be closely tied to a person’s identity, sense of being, and infused with personal history. The composite, textured landscapes in the series “Imprints” are a recreation of places and scenes from an estranged homeland. Several sheets of photographic paper with variable cutouts are layered together, imitating landforms that have formed over time. The visible and obscured parts of the landscape suggest the interplay of effects between man and nature, as well as the imperfections of memory, with the bifurcated textures emphasizing the mind’s inability to retain and fully comprehend its environment. The discontinuity between the images also induces the viewer to draw on their own experiences to complete the work.
Artist Bio:
Charlotta María Hauksdóttir is an Icelandic artist based in California, working primarily in photography. Although she’s lived in the US for more than 15 years, she still draws inspiration from her home country of Iceland. Her work centers around the unique connection one has to places and moments in time, and how memories embody and elevate those connections. Charlotta graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with an MFA in Photography in 2004, and received a BA in Photography from the Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome, Italy in 1997.
Her work has been exhibited around the world, with solo exhibitions in the US, Russia, and Iceland, most recently at the Reykjavik Museum of Photography. She has received a number of awards and has been published in several magazines and books. Her work is part of numerous public and private collections all over the world, including corporate collections, the latest acquisition being Stanford Health Care.
