Iceland review - 2015, Page 46

44 ICELAND REVIEW
ALONE
For his final project at
Ljósmyndaskólinn,
The School of
Photography in Reykjavík,
documentary photogra-
pher Valdimar Thorlacius
(born 1988) crisscrossed
the country capturing
images of loners, hermits
and recluses and their
living spaces. His exhibi-
tion 1 Ein/Einn (‘1 One’)
at the National Museum
of Iceland and accompa-
nying book, out through
Crymogea, provides a
glimpse into the lives of
some of the people who
live alone in regional
Iceland. Most remain in
their childhood homes,
left behind after their par-
ents have passed on, while
others have deliberately
sought out seclusion and
solitude.
“These are people who
have chosen to live alone;
they want to live alone.
None of them have chil-
dren or were married
when they moved to where
they live now. They ended
In a new exhibition and book, young documentary photographer
Valdimar Thorlacius zooms in on solitary life in
the Icelandic countryside.
up alone but not because
their partners passed
away,” he explains. They
may live alone but they
aren’t necessarily lonely,
he adds. “They’re actual-
ly not really alone. They
always find something
else to take the place of
others, whether it’s ani-
mals, faith, elves and
trolls, or something else.
One man, for example,
has around 20 cats. His
life completely surrounds
cats. He has photos of
them everywhere in his
house; to him they’re like
his children.” In any case,
in the age of connectivity
we’re never really com-
pletely alone these days,
Valdimar stresses. He
admits that while some
of his subjects were per-
haps a little tired of living
the lonesome life, others
thrived on the solitude.
Valdimar lives in his
birth town of Hveragerði,
a 45-minute drive from
Reykjavík, and spent a lot
of time in the countryside
BY ZOË ROBERT. PHOTOS BY VALDIMAR THORLACIUS. CAPTIONS FROM VALDIMAR’S BOOK 1.
Ásmundur Ásmundsson
“I sometimes have the idea that I should start raising sheep and cows
again, but it’s never been anything other than plain foolishness. And the
horses are multiplying. We could almost say that I’ve chased
everyone away with all the horses here at Akrar.”