Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.11.2018, Síða 42

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42The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 20— 2018Books
Search For Life
Ragnar Halldórsson’s accidental art project
finds a fascinating form
Words: John Rogers Photo: Timothée Lambrecq
Book
‘Leit að Lífi / Search For Life’ is
available in bookstores now.
Ragnar Hal ldórsson’s book,
“Search For Life,” is not, in fact, a
book. It looks like one, with a cover
and a spine and so forth; but it is
in fact, says Ragnar, something
else entirely. “It was made the way
I think about making an exhibi-
tion,” says Ragnar. “There’s a topic,
but it’s not served up with a spoon.”
The topic in question is a voy-
age Ragnar took to the Caribbean
Sea during the winter of 2017-18,
travelling by boat with a friend.
The multifaceted account consists
of photographic portraits of the
people he encountered along the
way and excerpts from his dia-
ries; short, unvarnished snatches
of his thoughts and experiences.
On January 25th, Ragnar wrote:
“Been dreaming about the past.
Weird dreams.” On January 28th:
“Okay, okay. At least I’m here.”
On February 10th: “I’ve been
struggling to keep myself good
for the last few days. Thoughts
now come out of nowhere. On
the right track, but it’s awfully
tight. Maybe it’s just a phase.”
Blow some life
It’s clear that Ragnar was go-
ing through a period of cathar-
tic self examination during his
trip. What isn’t clear—although,
it’s between the lines—is exactly
what caused it. “I’d come out of
rehab a few months before, and
out of a relationship, and I was
between apartments,” he says. “It
was written in the sky, in a way.
The captain of the ship—a drink-
ing buddy from Kaffibarinn, who’s
now a friend—asked me just a few
weeks before. He said, “You have
nothing else to do.” I needed to
blow some life into myself. It was,
in a way, written in the stars.”
Searching for
something
Ragnar understands that, on pa-
per, it reads like the classic plan
of someone who’s feeling lost and
needs to reboot their life and find
themselves. “It’s so obviously an
idea had by someone who is search-
ing for something,” he laughs.
Creating work wasn’t part
of the idea. It happened almost
unconsciously. “I never thought
about this a book,” he says. “I went
there just to open my mind a little
bit, leave Iceland behind for a little
while, and change the scenery, and
not think about art, or anything.
But a week into
the trip, I was
starting to do
t h i ngs —t a k-
i n g p h o t o s ,
like any tourist
does—but by
the end I was
very focussed
on what I was
d o i n g . ” H e
smiles. “People
who are in the creative fields find
it impossible to go on a vacation.”
Self and other
After his time in the Caribbean,
Ragnar went to New York. He
looked over the photos and dia-
ries and saw something form-
ing before his eyes. “I thought, ‘I
have something here,’” he says.
“It wasn’t an exhibition, and I
would never make a straight pho-
tography book. But when the im-
ages and texts were put side by
side, it came into focus quickly.”
As we leaf through a copy of
‘Search For Life,’ I wonder out
loud about the decision to jux-
tapose portraits of people going
about their day with the highly
personal diaries, asking why he
chose to photograph others, rather
than himself, or his bunk, or his
footprints in the sand. “I would
never have made this book if I was
alone,” he says. “You can’t figure
out who you are sitting in an emp-
ty room. I used the camera to get in
connection with the people. I had a
rule that I would approach some-
one, talk to them, and maybe ask
if I could come back tomorrow and
hang out. Through these people I
came to understand myself more.”
“I really wanted the writing
to be mundane stuff, but really
open,” he continues. “You can
never pinpoint exactly what I’m
talking about, but I think people
will feel like they understand what
I’m getting at. It’s honest and a
pinpoint of an abstract world.”
A little bit brighter
This abstract word certainly had,
in the end, the desired effect.
Ragnar speaks with intense fond-
ness about his
fellow travel-
lers and the
p e o p l e h e
encou ntered
on t he w ay.
He a l so b e -
lieves that his
search for life
changed him
for the better.
“ I n a
way, it’s a homage to just being a
happy, normal guy,” he concludes.
“Realising that this moment is
life. I’m not a yogi or anything, but
I understand a little bit better after
this trip that the past doesn’t mat-
ter. It gives you depression if you
think too much about it. And the
future makes you anxious. On this
journey, I was in the moment of be-
ing on a white sand beach, or just
doing normal stuff. The sun was
just a little bit brighter.”
gpv.is/lit
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Ragnar, searching for life
“I think people
will feel like they
understand what
I’m getting at.
It’s honest, and
a pinpoint of an
abstract world.”
"It was, in a way, written in the stars."
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