GROUP EXHIBITION
No 4 AROUND
is an exhibition serie which is intended to promote contemporary art in all parts of Iceland.
In the summer of 2022, the exhibition was held in West coast and Strandir.
KETILSSON´S WORK
TIME - MEMORY
Life in the capital was characterised by hustle and bustle. However, for a young boy from Reykjavík, experiencing life on a farm in the deep valley of Strandir Coast – West Fjords, during each summer between 1964-1970, offered a much slower pace.
But time did not stand still.
An awareness of Time arose in relation to household chores, sunrise, daylight, the lambing season, sheep shearing and nature´s clockwork.
The days and chores at Gestsstaðir in Tungusveit were habitual. After milking, the cattle were driven into a valley and other chores were done, one after the other. All tasks had to be completed.
The farmhouse was a simple, small, white concrete building with a green corrugated iron roof.
In addition to the farmer family, an elderly blind man lived there.
The old man had a rule to walk clockwise around the house, mornings and evenings, for his health reasons. On his hands he wore thick woolen mittens. Due to his blindness, he had to lean against the walls of the house as support while walking.
He repeated this routine every day of the week, for months and years. Over time, he left his mark on the white walls of the house, a brown-coloured line from the mittens, at chest height, became darker and clearer. For the boy, this line became very interesting and he waited excitedly every spring, on his way to the countryside, to see what the line looked like this year and whether an indentation would emerge on the wall.