Reykjavík Grapevine - jún. 2023, Blaðsíða 18

The Reykjavík Grapevine 7 / 23 18Culture
WORDS Iryna Zubenko
IMAGE Art Bicnick
In a quest to better
understand how movies are dubbed
in Iceland, we find ourselves in front
of an unremarkable building in the
industrial block of Hafnarfjörður.
Contrary to its unassuming exterior,
Myndform holds a delightful sur-
prise within its rugged exterior: an
in-house cinema and walls adorned
with beloved cartoon characters.
Eager to show us around is studio
manager Bjarki Gunnarsson. As the
first door opens, I catch a glimpse of
a new episode of Moominvalley on
the screen – this is a movie geek’s
version of Disneyland.
It was the use of colour that ini-
tially attracted me to Júlíanna Ósk
Hafberg’s work – shades of pink,
turquoise and blue. Her art exudes
a sense of softness, flow and light-
ness, or so it seems at first glance.
We met at the MA Fine Arts Degree
Exhibition at The Living Art Muse-
um, where Júlíanna and six other
graduate students display their final
projects. It quickly became evident
her work delves into profound and
intimate subjects, capturing atten-
tion with its multiple layers.
RADICAL SOFTNESS
As an artist, Júlíanna is constantly
experimenting with different medi-
ums — painting, textiles, jewellery,
glass cutting, woodwork, sculpture
and writing. With a smile, she says,
“I’m just very creative. I’m very play-
ful and explorative in my art.”
She describes her art as embodying
a borderline radical softness and
vulnerability. “My art is very much
based around the notions and the
thoughts around bringing more soft,
feminine energy,” she explains. “It’s
something that I found I was miss-
ing in society, especially in our more
harsh capitalist structures. I like to
use vulnerability very deliberately. I
also like challenging what we have
labelled as ‘girly’ or ‘women’s art.’”
Imbalance in the world and our so-
ciety often serve as a starting point
for discussions that fuel Júlíanna’s
artistic expression. “It’s quite radical
to be vulnerable in a society that is
in some ways sort of individualistic,”
she says.
BEYOND MOULDS
Júlíanna’s graduation artwork titled
Byrði þess að vera kona (The Heavy
Burden of Being a Woman) offers
a very intimate glimpse into the
artist’s personal experience. “These
are casts of my breasts that I’ve
taken myself,” says Júlíanna as she
shows me two delicate pink sculp-
tures. The artist deliberately omitted
one step from the cast-making pro-
cess, resulting in the pieces’ deli-
cate appearance. “They look very
defeated and deflated. This is about
my own personal experience with
carrying very big breasts all my life,”
Júlíanna shares.
The piece is based on Júlíanna’s
eponymous poem. “It’s almost like
an autobiographical poem that trac-
es my journey from the time I got
my breasts when I was 11, and then
all these different experiences I had
— having to go to an adult lingerie
store when I was 14, because my
breasts were already too big to shop
in normal girls’ stores, being sexual-
ized at 15, slutshamed, and also just
the burden on the body, the physi-
calness of it — the pain in the back
and the neck,” she explains.
In the piece, Júlíanna incorporates
the words starting with the letter B
from the poem. They have, in a way,
become a poem on their own —
words like ‘byrði’ (burden), ‘bungur’
(the breasts), ‘blúndur brjóstahal-
dara’ (lace bra), ‘blöðrur’ (balloons)
underline the artist’s personal
struggles.
“In this piece, I’m going straight into
the vulnerability of exposing my own
journey,” Júlíanna says. “I’m talking
about the physical, mental and so-
cietal burden of being a woman and
the different aspects of that.”
THE WEIGHT WITHIN
Júlíanna opens up about her years-
long struggle with chronic pain. The
strain on her shoulders, back and
jaw has been so severe that she has
been seeing chiropractors since her
teenage years. Júlíanna has always
wanted to undergo breast reduction
surgery, and coincidentally, the pro-
cedure will take place just a day af-
ter the exhibition concludes. “That’s
also where this comes from,” she
explains, adding: “There’s also this
level of dealing with the healthcare
system that we have here.”
Júlíanna shares how she has been
trying to get the surgery through
public health insurance, but due to
stringent rules and long waiting lists,
this became increasingly difficult.
Júlíanna, like many other women
facing similar circumstances, has
decided to go private. “This kind
of procedure costs about a million
ISK,” shares Júlíanna.
“The piece came out of my whole
journey going through this process,”
she reflects. “Being an artist, I want-
ed to capture this and the feeling. I
feel like I’ve done that — the piece
has managed to capture the feeling
of the burden, the heaviness and the
exhaustion of it all.”
Júlíanna agrees that one can evoke
empathy by sharing their story. “It’s
definitely a feminist piece,” she af-
firms. “I just wanted to shed light on
these things. As women, we carry a
lot of things with us without openly
talking about them — we hide our
tampons when we go to the bath-
room. We’re sort of taught to do all
those things. [This piece] is about
wanting to open up to it. I think many
people and women relate to a lot
of things that this piece is talking
about.”
WHERE ART GOES NEXT
Following the surgery, Júlíanna
will take a break from work, as she
needs to refrain from lifting objects
for approximately six weeks. With
new projects still up in the air, she’s
confident she wants to keep this
piece. “I’m so much in the process
of going through these emotions
right now,” she confesses. “It’s not
a retrospect, it’s not something that
has happened. I’m working through
it.”
“I’m so interested in seeing how
these pieces look or feel in a year
or straight after my surgery. I don’t
know what happens,” Júlíanna ad-
mits. “I’m very much putting myself
for show. These are my breasts on
display. It’s definitely the most vul-
nerable piece that I’ve done.”
Check out Byrði þess að vera kona
along with other MA graduates’
projects at The Living Art Museum
through June 4.
Culture Feature Unmasking The Burden Of Being A
Woman
Júlíanna Ósk Hafberg embraces womanhood through intimate reflection
It’s quite radical to be vulnera-
ble in a society that is in some
ways sort of individualistic.
It’s definitely the most vulnera-
ble piece that I’ve done.