Sparked by inspiration from riding my motorcycle around Iceland in 2004, the Inland/Outland project finally began in 2007 and now consists of film and extensive photo galleries of about 200 000 still photographs.
Armed with optimism, time, and a camera, I approached Iceland’s main bus and freight companies. Greeted with support, I boarded buses and freight trucks, crossing the country’s circle highway. Fighting the jumps and shaking of each vehicle, I pointed my camera out of the side windows and shot single frames every few seconds. Tens of thousands of images - shot in every weather and light - are now the foundation of a dual video piece. They reveal what it feels like to pass by the landscape on both sides of the circle highway, looking both inland and outland, towards the inside of the country, and out to sea. Traveling through different seasons and light, leaving behind deserts for green valleys, deep fjords for glacier lagoons, passing by a volcanic eruption at Eyjafjallajökul. In the end, 2800 kilometers of landscapes passing you by with 40 000 still images.
Accompanying the videos are large galleries of images taken from the same spot in different season or weather. The comparison often yields fascinating differences, clearly showing dramatic landscape changes by the play of light, the color of the ground and the weather at the moment of photographin.
An original score by Icelandic musician Daníel Ágúst (Gus Gus, Nydonsk, Esja) accompanies the films.
The work was exhibited in a preview exhibition in the southeast of Iceland in March 2010, but had its world premiere screening at the NunaNow festival in Canada in May 2010, along with an exhibition at Reykjavik City Hall during Culture night in August 2010. Two exhibitions are scheduled for Iceland in the summer of 2011.
DVD release was in July 2010.
Sales of prints through the website are possible, and can go through me directly, via email- svavar9@gmail.com
Special thanks to the companies that supported me all the drivers who kindly let me ride with them, shared their time, space and conversations with me- I wish you safe future travels. Thanks to all the people who in one way or another helped me out, supported me and had faith and understanding of what i was doing. Thank you
Svavar Jónatansson