THE ENCHANTING WORLD OF SAGA SIGUROARDOTTIR

I have wanted to dedicate a blog post to Saga Sigurðardóttir for quite a few months. My original plan was to engage directly, talk to her and discuss her work immediately after having looked at some of her favourite pictures together. Despite exchanging several emails and the best intentions on both sides, my mission failed and a new idea emerged: I decided that I would observe and describe her work and narratives without a great deal of detailed information or insider knowledge. Instead of an authoritative voice you are getting my own experience and understanding, unlikely to be replicated by Saga herself. My interpretation might not necessarily strike her as accurate but I thought it could be interesting to give you my own personal reading.
The first time I saw her pictures was on her blog. She had just started it. I think it requires a particular kind of courage to put your work out there for everyone to see and criticize, it is an intense game, but one which Saga can play extremely well. I fell in love with her immense talent, refined technical skills and her stories populated by vivid characters. Her images are beautiful pieces which seem to possess a richness of human experience while at the same time being solidly rooted in the world she comes from: Iceland. I thought it made perfect sense that her cultural and genetic heritage would be reflected in the nostalgic emptiness and silence always glistening on the surface of her pictures. Despite her enchanting versatility, her fantastic range and depth of knowledge I feel that her passion is fundamentally linked to her country of origin, a place that seems to be flickering and evoked in most of her work. The structures of certain photos reveal what seem to be little introspective confessions marked by infinite charm, poetry and melancholy. She has created small time capsules with a sense of otherness, curiously evading the contemporary photography scene with her work set in some sort of spellbinding past (but then I expect Iceland is a magical land, a logical answer to why her photos are filled with elements of Nordic folktale). There is always something lovely and unexpected to look at, a trick she uses to keep me so involved and attached to her work. Her trajectory to the top will be quick and her career a great success!

All pictures courtesy of Saga Sigurðardóttir