Project Statement
Where the Land Rises documents the relationship between the landscape and people of Heimaey, the only inhabited island of Vestmannaeyjar, a volcanically active archipelago in southern Iceland.
Isolated from the Icelandic mainland by the North Atlantic Ocean, Vestmannaeyjar is a dramatic fleet of around 15 islands. Heimaey, which literally means Home Island, is the largest of these islands with an area of approximately five square miles and home to a population of 4,300 people. Two cindery domes dominate the island’s horizon, sitting like residual slag heaps from a heavy industry long abandoned. These volcanoes, known as Eldfell and Helgafell, reveal the temporality of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Lying directly between the shifting tectonic plates of Europe and North America, the geology of the Vestmannaeyjar range is relatively new, having been formed by multiple volcanic eruptions during the past 12,000 years.
In the early hours of 23rd January 1973 the island of Heimaey suddenly split open, sending columns of lava into the sky from a mile-long fissure. The eruption of Eldfell – as the 42-year-old volcano is now known – led to the immediate evacuation of the island, destroying many homes and forever violently altering the geography of Heimaey. For this reason, the island is often cited as the ‘Pompeii of the North’. As the lava flow slowly crept towards the fishing harbour threatening to destroy the island’s economic lifeline, interventions were made to divert the drifting magma. A dam of solidified basalt was successfully created by spraying the flow with billions of litres of seawater. In early July 1973, the eruption was officially declared over and many of the inhabitants began to return, although some would never come back. The island had been saved but the landscape would never be the same again. In less than six months Eldfell had grown to a height of 200 metres and the island’s area had increased by 20%. However, this ‘new’ landscape formed by the eruption is a topography significantly influenced by mankind and the event is often regarded as an archetypal example of man’s ability to conquer the overwhelming power of nature.
My project captures the stark coastal terrain of Vestmannaeyjar, a restless landscape forged by intense geological violence that originates deep within our planet. Nevertheless, the landscape of Heimaey is revered by its inhabitants as a home; an island refuge in an often unforgiving environment. My portraits document some of the people who live there; the permanent occupants of a landscape exposed to ongoing forces of destruction and creation; the everyday witnesses of a terrain intricately textured by an ever-changing climate. A people who exist between a landscape gone and a landscape to come. By documenting the portraits and stories of several people who experienced the eruption of Eldfell, I was able to imagine a past landscape now lost beneath the lava and investigate a moment in Heimaey’s recent history when the island’s entire community came unnervingly close to losing everything.
Where the Land Rises explores the complex interrelations between the changing environment and mankind against the unpredictable geography of Vestmannaeyjar and the surrounding extremes of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In examining this space, I present themes of isolation and man’s inherent longing for order within a fluctuating environment. By further detailing the lasting effects of the eruption of Eldfell I introduce ideas of loss, remembrance, time, and the opportunity of new beginnings. Where the Land Rises ultimately considers our perception of the landscapes that surround us, but more significantly, how the changing environments we inhabit shape the human condition.
Artist Statement
Peter Holliday
2015
Peter Holliday (b. 1992) is a photographer from Scotland currently based in Glasgow. He received his degree in Communication Design with first-class honours from the Glasgow School of Art in 2015. In Aug 2015 he was selected as one of 20 art graduates for Creative Review’s UK-wide talent spotting showcase in collaboration with JCDecaux and Creative Translation. Peter has been published internationally, most recently in the French daily newspaper Libération, and has been invited to exhibit his work at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography in Dec 2015.
Peter’s photographs document the existential and symbiotic relationship human beings share with the environments we find ourselves in. Drawing on the academic landscape writing of theorists such as Anne Whiston Spirn, Yi-Fi Tuan, and Edward S. Casey, Peter reflects on themes of time, memory, home, and community within the context of the cultural, historical, political, and emotional significance of the topographies that underpin humanity’s existence. Inspired by the common culture, history, and geography shared by the Nordic nations, Peter is currently interested in exploring this complex interaction between mankind and the landscape within the broad locale of Scandinavia and north-west Europe.
Peter’s latest body of work Where the Land Rises captures the stark coastal terrain of the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago in southern Iceland, a restless landscape forged by intense geological violence that originates deep within our planet. On 23rd January 1973, Heimaey, the only inhabited island of Vestmannaeyjar, suddenly erupted sending columns of lava into the sky from a mile-long fissure. The eruption of Eldfell – as the 42-year-old volcano is now known – led to a five-month evacuation of the island, destroying many homes and violently altering the geography of Heimaey. Nevertheless, the landscape of Heimaey is revered by its inhabitants as a home; an island refuge in an often unforgiving environment. A people who exist between a landscape gone and a landscape to come. By documenting the portraits and stories of several people who experienced the eruption, Peter was able to imagine a past landscape now lost beneath the lava and investigate a moment in Heimaey’s recent history when the island’s entire community came unnervingly close to losing everything. Where the Land Rises is a series that considers our perception of the landscapes we regard as home and how these changing environments shape the human condition.
Peter is also interested in both philosophy and political theory with a specific focus on Marx, Camus, Sartre, Heidegger, and Chomsky. He was awarded a distinction for his final year undergraduate dissertation entitled From Proletariat to Precariat: Representations of Labour within the Age of Globalisation. Citing the work of artists such as Sebastião Salgado, Steve McQueen, and Alan Sekula, Peter discussed the relationship between theories of Marxism and contemporary representations of labour – both in photography and the moving image.
