Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.11.2017, Page 25

teenagers and children. I think it
can give a lot of value to life,” he ex-
plains. “This imaginary world with
trolls is also an escape from the ri-
gidity of reality and we all do that
when we watch TV or read a book,
or when we have a fun talk with our
friend. One could say that the body
of work I am developing with the
trolls is a dialogue; it is just like a
fun talk with some good friends,
and in this case they happen to be
imaginary friends.”
The height of our era
Egill’s candour also allows him to
reflect on the frustrating contra-
dictions of the world around us.
“We think we have so much un-
der control in our lives and in the
Western world in the ‘height of our
era,’ but in many ways I guess we
are completely lost,” he says with
a grave tone. Specifically he refers
to the unethical behaviour of coun-
tries and companies in a world
where nobody is held accountable,
as well as the impact of the Inter-
net on our social behaviour.
For Egill, much
of what we do in our
daily lives is con-
nected to our imagi-
nation, whether it’s a
defence mechanism
against reality, or an
unconscious way of
filtering our life ex-
periences, or even
the way we process
our own identity.
“We are living in a
fantasy world where
we really believe
there are banks and
bankers, and hair-
dressers and farm-
ers and journalists
and artists, but half
of this is just imagined, dreamed
and lived,” Egill concludes. “There
is a lot of imagination and fantasy
inside our head and in our everyday
life, just like my life with the trolls
appears to be. We dream half of the
world.”
Between dreams and
reality
It’s difficult, then, to ask whether
Ugh and Böögar are real or imagi-
nary, because for Egill the rela-
tionship between the abstract and
the material world isn’t binary;
instead, the two concepts blos-
som out of the same soil. If we
imagine the world around us, does
that make it any less real? The only
clear thing is that, because Ugh
and Böögar have an identity of
their own, they seem to have much
more freedom than Egill when it
comes to exploring objects and
concepts, precisely because they
live on the edge between mind and
mass. “Ugh and Böögar are ad-
justing very slowly to life among
humans. They’re very much trolls
and eat people all the time,” Egill
confirms. Furthermore, he con-
tinues, “They don’t really see the
difference between gold and con-
crete. They’re kind of learning all
these man-made values.”
It is precisely this innocent,
childlike approach to the world
that allows Egill’s trolls (and,
therefore, him) to look at things
from a different perspective. Un-
like humans, they are not bound
by social constraints that tell them
what’s appropriate and what isn’t.
Thus, it is through Ugh and Böögar
that Egill is able to pose questions
that most peopel are too scared to
ask. “I think I am just approach-
ing a few different things with the
work with the trolls,” Egill con-
cedes. “I am trying to inspect so-
ciety, the grotesque powers within
human nature—those that we
cannot control and that are larger
than us.”
When Egill
talks about his work,
it’s clear that his vi-
sion is not the only
element behind it.
For him, it’s also im-
portant to have fun
and be playful. “I al-
low myself to be very
simple and childish
because I don’t think
we always have
to have a strong
shell to protect us
in life,” he asserts.
“People shouldn’t
be afraid of art. Art
is a place where we
can drop the de-
fences.” And what better place
to start than his exhibition to
break free from our chains?
25The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 20 — 2017
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Egill's troll jewellery at i8