BORN OF FIRE | 2023
SÍM Residency, Iceland
Born of Fire emerged from an intuitive dialogue with the dynamic, living land during a month-long residency in Reykjavík, Iceland. This period involved research and experimentation into the felt significance and relationality of various materials, with daily walks through the local terrain being central to the process. Through attuning to my own felt sense and to the surrounding environment, these walks became a compass guiding me toward natural materials to collaborate with. My intention was to cultivate a connection with the living essence of the land, allowing it to shape and inform the ways in which I interacted with it. This experience was heightened by the escalating seismic activity in the nearby Reykjanes Peninsula, the voice of magma rapidly rising through the Earth’s crust.
The resulting installation was an homage to the land—an amalgamation of black sand, salt, Icelandic sheep’s wool, bone, and salt dough. At the completion of the residency, all of the materials gathered from the land—namely, sand, rock and bone—were returned back to where they were originally found.
