Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.08.2016, Page 23

There
Can Be
Only One
Iceland’s Highlands
In Thoughts & Pictures
Compiled by JOHN ROGERS
Valur Gunnarsson
“It’s the deserts that breed prophets.
It’s the silence that brings you closer
to god or whatever invisible spirits may
be out there. The solitude brings you
closer to your own true self.
“As I look out the window of the bus
cutting across the wastes of the Highlands
with Megas blasting from my earphones,
I survey some of these latter-day prophets
in their Gore-Tex boots or on mountain
bikes. They have come from all over in
search of something. God knows what
they hope to find in the nothingness.
“Icelanders of old would only pass
through when they had to, to attend
Parliament or reach the more populous
settlements in the south. A few unfortu-
nate souls spent years up here,
banished from the world of men.
Perhaps they learnt something
we will never know.
“And yet there is something
about the desolate magnificence that
almost forces you to consider your
place in the universe. Perhaps the
astronauts did when they came here
to practice their moon landing. Or
Tom Cruise, when he used it for a
post-apocalyptic dystopia. You won’t
find anything quite like it on Earth.
But maybe on other planets, haunted
by their own alien spirits.”
Photo TIMOTHÉE LAMBRECQ
Photo ART BICNICK