The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2004, Side 47

Vol. 58 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
193
The House of Spirits
by Sverrir Olafsson
Regarding my sculpture “The House
of Spirits” in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, I would
like to give you a short version of my idea
for it. I work with symbolism in all of my
sculptures, and this one is no exception. As
there is the old Maya temple at Garrafon, I
wanted to further celebrate the women’s
temple, by building my own, that in a way
calls to the old - via the new. Furthermore,
I wanted “my temple” to symbolize a sort
of a haven for the spirits of the ancient
world, therefore the open windows to all
four directions. As the Garrafon area is also
very rich of wildlife, birds and iguanas in
particular, the spirits would through - the
animal life form, find their haven (by nest-
ing) inside my House of Spirits. I deliber-
ately placed the sculpture at the “opposite
end” of the park, so that it would not inter-
fere with the old temple, but rather “com-
municate” with it.
As I understood, my hope for birds
and other animals to seek shelter inside the
sculpture, has worked even better than I
could hoped for.
As for the structure itself, the “pyra-
mid” shape sculpture, has its steps, that
symbolize the journey towards infinity -
the after life or the All Mighty - if you like.
On some of my other sculptures, I
have used a “chair” on top of the pyramid
shape, to symbolize power - be it good or
bad! In the case of The House of Spirits, it
is actually a serial piece, that I have worked
with in different parts of the world -
Mexico, Iceland, Germany, Japan and
other places.
It was exceptionally rewarding for me
to have the honour and opportunity to
build this sculpture in Isla Mujeres, as my
tribute to the “women of the world”. I am
in my heart a strong believer of feminism
and try all I can to stand for women’s
rights, wherever and whenever I can. To be
able to honour the women, on the “island
of women” - Isla Mujeres, as the, ancient
Mayas did, was extremely gratifying for
me.