Valladolid
21 September - 6 November, 2018

The little town of Ólafsfjörður sits at the mouth of the Eyjafjörður, one of the longest fjords in Iceland. A considerable number of the population of 800 or so work for Norlandia, a fishing and fish-drying company which supplies cod, hake, haddock and pollack to both the local and foreign markets. ⠀

Ólafsfjörður’s small trawler fleet is the principal source of sustenance of the human inhabitants of the region and to a great extent determines their living conditions. During the month of July, the sun never sets on Ólafsfjörður, and the relationship between light and darkness is one of the main sources of the area’s exuberant mythology. ⠀

As one aspect of the Listhús artist’s residence he was awarded in 2014, Juan Baraja wanted to explore in greater depth a way of life profoundly conditioned by the biotope and by a light which is almost porous. His stay at the fjord is reflected in the photographic series entitled Norlandia, in which the photographer has for the first time moved away from the specific focus on architecture that had marked his work up until then and opened up his field of research to include the portrait and the still life.

Alfredo Puente