ÍRIS MARÍA LEIFSDÓTTIR
BIO
Íris María Leifsdóttir is in her first year of the MA programme in Fine Art. This summer she graduated from The University of Iceland with a BA in Sociology. In 2020 she completed a two-year painting program in The Reykjavik School of Visual Art and has been co-running FLÆÐI gallery for two years.
Rare earth elements
Material: Mica, járn, segulmagnaður sandur, elsta berg jarðar, quarts, leir og óþekkt jarðefni frá Grænlandi á málmplötur.
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Last September I travelled to Greenland and became inspired by the surroundings, the land is the most isolated and harsh environment in the world. About 60% of the sea level rise is due to melting of glaciers in Greenland. With global warming, there is increased access to rare earth elements that are essential in the electronics industry. Rare metals are needed to make electronic devices, such as computers, phones, and cars, they are pursued by the United States, China, and the European Union. The Inuit people came to Greenland (Kalaallit) over 4000 years ago and have lived in respectful harmony with their surroundings. The word Inuit means person and they believe that the land owns itself.
The exhibition Layers unravelling exhibits an artwork called Rare earth elements where I used a welding machine and a ceramic kiln to burn Greenlandic materials on a circular metal plate to transform them into three-dimensional objects. A performance will be held on the opening where my grandmother Guðrún Ásmundsdóttir, and I, will sing a song called Það sem ekki má by Jón Múli Árnason. Through my experiments, I attempt to expand my perception by exposing what might be hidden underneath the layers of metal.
