Thursday, January 26, 2023, 17:00 – 18:00. Skaftfell, 3rd floor
Skaftfell Art Center invites you to an artist talk with Jessica Auer, Canadian artist, photographer, and filmmaker, and co-founder of Ströndin Studio, a photographic research and education center in Seyðisfjörður. A selection of photographs from Jessica’s series Looking North will be on view in the Skaftfell Bistró from January 23 – April 2, 2023. The installation and talk coincide with Jessica’s exhibition Landvörður, curated by Sigrún Alba Sigurðardóttir, opening on January 28th at Sláturhúsið, in Egilsstaðir. www.slaturhusid.is
About the artist:
Jessica Auer is a Canadian artist who teaches photography at Concordia University in Montréal. She resides for half the year in Seyðisfjörður, East Iceland, where she is director of Ströndin Studio. Auer’s work is broadly concerned with the study of landscapes as cultural sites. Through a research-based practice, she examines our social, political, and aesthetic attitudes towards place, including, but not limited to, historic sites, tourist destinations, and small communities.
Working mainly with large format photography, Jessica is best known for her tableau-style photographs that examine the ways in which landscapes have been preserved, altered or commodified for sightseeing. Through these photographs, she expresses a deep concern for nature and the vulnerability of remote sites and communities when confronted with mass tourism. Her images aim to reveal the geopolitical realities surrounding travel and the paradox of attempting to preserve the same landscapes that the industry often seeks to exploit.
Auer received her MFA from Concordia University in Montréal, where she teaches part-time in the Photography department. Her work has been presented in several museums, galleries and festivals, such as the Canadian Center for Architecture, The Reykjavík Museum of Photography and the COTM photography festival in Cortona, Italy.
Auer has been awarded grants and prizes for photography, art and cinema, and has been featured by Prefix Photo (Canada), Femmes Photographes (Paris), Radio Canada International, ARTE television network, and the Guardian. As her work often responds to place, she has participated in several residency programs including the Banff Centre in Canada, The Brucebo Foundation in Gotland and Bær Art Center in Iceland. Jessica was most recently awarded a residency with Artlink at Fort Dunree in Ireland.
While in Iceland, Auer runs Ströndin Studio, a photographic research facility and educational institution in Seyðisfjörður.
