Iceland review - 2014, Side 63

ICELAND REVIEW 61
international network of people creating a
design and development platform in east
iceland, and will start receiving interna-
tional guest artists as part of a residency
program which launches in June.
return to roots
Born in reykjavík, rósa has spent most
of her life in Stöðvarfjörður, but she too
moved away for work and further study.
Many of those who have stuck around need
to travel to the surrounding areas for work.
“There’s no work here—nothing. Maybe if
i was a seaman with 40 years’ experience
i could find something,” she says of the
desperate employment situation. “Young
people move and they simply don’t come
back. Without young people, there are no
babies being born here, fewer and fewer
children in the school and it will get to the
point where the school will simply have to
close and then people will definitely not
want to move here,” she stresses. Today the
school counts 22 enrolled, plus six children
at the kindergarten. This has its advantages
too, though, rósa points out. “They get
such personal teaching … i couldn’t imag-
ine putting him in a big class now.”
Family is what ultimately brought rósa
back to Stöðvarfjörður. during her time in
reykjavík she met Zdenek, who was on an
exchange program at the iceland Academy
of the Arts. The two later moved to prague
but returned to iceland when she became
pregnant. “i didn’t want to give birth in a
country where i didn’t understand the lan-
guage, didn’t understand the system, so we
decided to move back here, where i had my
family,” she explains. Surrounded by natural
beauty and spectacular mountain peaks,
Stöðvarfjörður is also an idyllic setting.
rósa’s parents, visual artist Sólrún
Friðriksdóttir and graphic artist ríkharður
valtingojer, were surprised to see her
return. “i thought she was such a city
girl after living in reykjavík and abroad,”
Sólrún laughs. But having also returned
“It’s healthy for young
people to grow up with
art around them. When
we painted the fish on
the side of the factory
everyone in town watched
it develop over the three
days. It sparked
discussion about art.”